Outbound tourism up in Russia in 2024

Outbound tourism has grown 20% in Russia in 2024, and about 30 million international trips will have been taken for various purposes by the end of this year, Russian Union of Travel Industry Vice-President Dmitry Gorin said.

"Despite the restrictions on international flights, outbound tourism has grown 20%. The season is not over yet, and we are expecting about 29-30 million fellow citizens to travel abroad this year for various reasons, including private, business and tourist trips," Gorin said.

There is a significant growth in sales of package tours in the organized tourism segment, Gorin said. The RUTI is expecting about 10 million people to travel abroad as organized tourists. Countries with direct flights are the leading destinations.

"Turkey ranks first. It will be visited by at least 6.7 million people this year. We slightly fall short of 2019, when the number stood at 6.9 million, yet the growth for Turkey is 6%," Gorin said.

There is a high growth in tourist trips to Egypt and Thailand this year, and tourist arrivals may reach 2 million shortly, he said.

According to the RUTI, Russia has direct flights to and from 36 countries, and there are charter flights for tourists to many of them.