A third of Russians would like to vacation abroad, but only 5% will go there

More than 30% of Russians would like to vacation abroad in the summer of 2012, but only 5% of tourists plan to go there, VCIOM Director General Valery Fedorov said at a press conference on Wednesday.

VTSIOM in mid-May conducted a survey on summer vacation preferences of Russians. The survey was attended by 1600 people from 138 settlements of 46 regions of the Russian Federation from 18 years and older. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

The least Russians want to spend holidays at home (16%) or in the country (6%), if the opportunities correspond to their desires. Most would like to go abroad - 30%, to the Black Sea coast of Russia - 23%, to another city of Russia - 8%, Crimea - 6%, other places in the former USSR - 7%. The far abroad is out of competition in terms of the aspirations of Russians, Fedorov said.

As for the preferred types of recreation, 36% of Russians, according to him, choose a beach holiday, 24% - rest at home (primarily older people), rest in the country (22%), educational rest (21%), treatment in sanatoriums 18%, hiking, fishing and hunting (15%), holiday homes (9%).

In 2011, 55% of Russians surveyed by us spent their holidays at home, 27% - at the country, 10% - in another city or village, 8% - in the Black Sea, 2% - in Crimea, only 6% - abroad. Let me remind you that 30% would prefer abroad, Fedorov said.

One of the questions was about the quality of rest.

“The world is troubled, I’m talking primarily about a new wave of economic crisis, and we wanted to understand whether such threats affect people’s behavior.” So far, we can see they don't. Only 5% expect that the rest will be worse, 22% - which is better, 60% believe that the rest will be the same. Optimists are 4.5 times more than pessimists, this is the best ratio in recent years, the sociologist said.

According to him, 50% of Russians plan to spend their holidays at home, 24% - in the country (in 2011 - 19%), in other cities - 10%, on the Black Sea - 9%, in foreign countries - 5% (in 2004 - 2%), in Crimea - 2%.

“The proportion of those planning to take a vacation at home is closely correlated with economic dynamics. The better the economy, the fewer those who stay at home. In 2004, 58% planned to vacation at home. In 2012, 50 percent. Slowly, this share is declining, as living standards are growing, Fedorov said.

Speaking about children's holidays, he added that 42% of parents plan to leave them at home for the summer and 19% - in the country. Those children who go to rest will go to recreation camps (13%), the Black Sea (9%), another city of the Russian Federation (8%), abroad (5%), relatives (4%).

Source: RIA Novosti