Tourist flow to Russia drops to its lowest level since 2021

Foreign visitors made 2.99 million tourist trips to Russia in January–June, nearly 20% fewer year-on-year and the lowest figure since 2021. The decline in tourist flows is being driven by the conflict in the Middle East and disruptions affecting Russian airports.

Sergey Romashkin, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, said inbound tourism decreased by 15% compared with last year, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

According to him, the decline became even more pronounced during the summer season.

The peak season for inbound tourism in Russia runs from May to September. The largest share of arrivals is generated by China. According to data from the Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Service, Chinese tourists accounted for 50.8% of arrivals last year, followed by Saudi Arabia with a 4.6% share.

They were followed by visitors from Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Germany and the UAE. Analysts at Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics agency, use a different methodology that also includes arrivals from neighbouring countries. Based on that assessment, the largest number of visits came from Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan.

The Ministry of Economic Development suggests measuring tourist flows by the number of foreign visitors staying in hotels. Under this metric, the figure increased by 23% in January–May. Data for June has not yet been released.

Hotel operators, however, have not observed significant growth. Azimut Hotels said the number of foreign guests has been declining, with the most noticeable drop coming from Middle Eastern countries.

Alexander Biba, president of Cosmos Hotel Group, said the number of foreign guests at the company’s hotels increased by only 3.4% in January–June.

Experts attribute the decline to the escalation of the Middle East conflict, air travel restrictions, disruptions at Russian airports, the strengthening of the ruble and high travel costs.

According to Marina Levchenko, CEO of Tari Tour, interest in autumn tours remains, but actual bookings will depend on the external situation. Sergey Romashkin believes that restoring the lost tourist flow by the end of the year is unlikely.

By Jeyhun Aghazada