Will Russians prefer to stay home after terrorist attacks?

The tourist flow from Russia may sharply decrease after the reports of a bomb explosion on board the Russian A321 aircraft that crashed in Egypt on October 31st, the head of the Federal Tourism Agency, Oleg Safonov, believes.

"It may decline by 40%," he said, adding that "this is an assessment of the tour operators." "In addition, the terrorist attacks in Paris showed that traveling abroad may not be safe," the head of department noted.

According to Safonov, possible rejection of foreign trips will lead to a growth in domestic tourism.

"People still need to relax, they need new experiences, so I think they will not refuse to travel in general," he believes. "In addition, we see positive dynamics of domestic tourist traffic, it is constantly growing," Interfax cited the head of the Federal Tourism Agency as saying.

The press secretary of the Federal Tourism Agency, Svetlana Sergeyeva, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the Russian tourism industry will need time to satisfy the needs of Russians who refuse to travel abroad. "Firstly, restructuring the market takes time. The federal target program for the development of domestic tourism up to 2018 is successfully operating: we allocate money to the subjects for the development of heavy engineering infrastructure, which allows investors to build hotels, entertainment complexes and tourist recreation. The head of the Federal Tourism Agency, Oleg Safonov, and the Minister for Development of the North Caucasus, Lev Kuznetsov, agreed on close cooperation and the formation of a unified information system," she said.

According to her, the global challenge for today is to make holidays in Russia no less comfortable than abroad. "Different regions have different levels of infrastructure. The regions where there is the main tourist flow is gradually improving the level of service and quality. That is, we need to improve our infrastructure and service. Sochi will not be able to receive 4 million tourists who cannot fly to Egypt due to the cancellation of air traffic, but Crimea, as well as resorts in the North Caucasus, are ready to receive some of them. The main thing is safety while traveling around the country," Svetlana Sergeeva concluded.

Professor of the Department of Business Process Management in Production and Service of RANEPA, Galina Dekhtyar, said that the terrorist attacks in Paris and the information that the plane crash in Egypt was the result of a terrorist attack, could lead to a decline in the number of people willing to go on holiday abroad. "People will decide what countries they should refuse to go to, because there are potential dangers. That is, our tourists have finally begun to understand that terrorist attacks and natural disasters are things that should be avoided," she explained.

Russia's tourism industry must solve several problems to be able to properly receive the Russian tourists who would prefer to spend holidays in their home country. "First of all, there is a need for stricter state regulation in terms of hotel classification throughout the country. Currently, some Moscow hotels have been certified, but they're a small part. It's basically large and well-known hotels and 5 and 4-star hotels," the expert said.

"The second aspect is the lack of qualified staff, especially guides and attendants. We don't have enough of those who are called instructor-attendants. There are also the roads, the state of the facilities, the service in hotels, especially ones with no stars and the catering trade," she added.

"It is necessary for tourists to see good service to travel for the first time and a second time," Galina Dekhtyar concluded.