SberIndex and OneTwoTrip: Russians manage to vacation in places they were not allowed to
Although the Russian tourism industry has not recovered from the pandemic restrictions yet, Russians spent 34.2% more on trips during the summer of 2021 y-o-y. According to a study by SberIndex and OneTwoTrip, Russians spent RUB 1.46 tn on domestic tourism and USD 2.3 bn on outbound tourism. While ignoring Egypt, Russians vacationed a lot in the Maldives and Seychelles, and even managed to vacation in Italy and Germany, formally closed to travelers. Domestic tourism saw few changes in the choice of destinations, and the demand proved to be more stable: Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Sochi emerged in the top three. The main southern resort of Russia registered a noticeable decrease in demand in the second half of the summer, which was most likely associated with stricter COVID-19 restrictions.
Tourism spending among Russians was up 34.2% in the summer of 2021 compared to 2020, with both the domestic and the outbound segment on the rise.
In June and August, USD 2.3 bn was spent overseas, which is almost 70% more y-o-y.
However, the industry is still depressed compared to pre-pandemic. Outbound tourism spending in the summer of 2021 accounted for only 17.4% of the level seen in 2019 (in dollar terms).
Even though Egypt re-opened its airports, it failed to become a Top 10 country in terms of spending.
Still, Russians managed to vacation in Italy and Germany, which were closed to travelers.
Domestic tourism in Russia saw RUB 1.46 tn in spending, and the situation here is much better.
Tourism spending in Russia rose 31.5% y-o-y, which is 8 pp above the organic growth rate.
The result could have been even better, but tighter COVID-19 restrictions affected domestic travel. Tourism spending was 11% below the trend level in July and August.
Russians’ preferences in cities when vacating inside the country barely changed. Moscow remained an undisputed leader with 25% of the total number of bookings, St. Petersburg ranked second (11.5%) and was visited more often than last year, while Sochi ranked third (7.8% of all plane tickets bought).
A reference to SberIndex (www.sberindex.ru) and OneTwoTrip is mandatory when publishing the materials.