International tourist flow from Russia will decrease in 2022 by at least 30% year-on-year, while the domestic tourist flow will remain at the level of last year in an optimistic scenario, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Maya Lomidze told reporters.
"I think that, under the most optimistic scenario, [the data for] the domestic market will be on par with last year, and that for the international market, the best-case scenario is a decline of 30%. According to the pessimistic forecast, the international figure would be at least minus 40-50%, and the domestic market's decline in demand would be about 10%," she said.
Lomidze noted that at the moment, demand reacts very quickly to external factors. As a result, the market's average demand for foreign travel has already decreased by almost 30%, while demand for domestic travel rose by 10%.
"This year, fall cashback program supported sales. Thus, according on our estimations, the overall increase for domestic destinations has now reached 10%. However, the growth isn't as high as it could be - it could have been over 20% year-on-year," she added.
