Russians made 5.3 million trips abroad in Q1 2024, which is an 8.8% increase from Q1 2023, according to the statistics of the Russian Federal Security Service’s Border Guard Service. Russians made 5,329,249 trips abroad for all purposes in the first quarter. Russian tourist tastes have changed as well, with European countries making it difficult for Russian nationals to obtain visas.
The most popular foreign travel destinations were Abkhazia (899,000), Turkey (643,800), the United Arab Emirates (572,200), Kazakhstan (486,900), Thailand (486,800), China (327,000), Egypt (300,400), Georgia (196,800), Armenia (194,600), and Estonia (155,500).
Of all the trips abroad, two million were made for tourism purposes. The leaders are the UAE (429,400 trips), Turkiye (366,000), Thailand (353,500), Egypt (233,600), China (163,000), Armenia (58,600), Sri Lanka (53,400), Cuba (48,500), Azerbaijan (43,000), and Georgia (37,600).
The next most popular tourism destinations, according to the Federal Security Service, include Uzbekistan, Maldives, Kazakhstan, India, Qatar, Serbia, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Seychelles, and Mauritius.
Russian overseas tourism expenditure was valued at US$36.2 billion in 2019, just before covid. It subsequently dropped but has been recovering and reached US$20.3 billion in 2022. Most of that tourism capital is now spent in Asia.
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