Study Reveals Russian Travel Trends, Greece a Top Choice

Athens, Greece

Greece is among Russian travelers’ top choice, Turkey is regaining lost ground and beach holidays together with sea cruises are among the activities of interest according to the RusIndex released at this year’s MITT by market researchers Ipsos Comcon.

According to the quarterly survey, Greece is a favorite European destination for Russians. Europe accounts for 53 percent of all Russian trips abroad, followed by Asia at 35 percent, Africa at 17 percent, and the US at 3 percent.

More than half of travelers from Moscow visited Europe at 54 percent compared to 61 percent in 2016 with Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain and Germany at the top of their wish list. At the same time, 38 percent opted for Asia against 33 percent in 2016.

According to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), Moscow and St Petersburg residents travel abroad twice as often compared to the other Russian nationals with the latter accounting for 73 percent of all travel to Europe compared with 72 percent in 2016.

Meanwhile, the number of Russians going on a beach holiday in 2017 increased by 2 percent over last year as did the number of Russians going on river or sea cruises, up by 7 percent in 2017 against 4 percent in 2016.

At the same time, spending increased in 2017 by 7 percent per trip.

According to the same report, vacationers from Russia spent 1.5-2 weeks on holiday in 2017 with those traveling for one week up by 6 percent. Russian travelers preferred to stay at 4-star hotels in 2017, up by 2 percent.