Point of return: Russians' spending on trips abroad has exceeded pre-recession levels

Russians will spend $37.8 billion on foreign travel in 2024, the Central Bank's press service told Izvestia. That is, for the first time this figure exceeded the pre-pandemic level of compatriots' spending abroad - about $36.2 billion in 2019. The main reason for this is the increase in tourist traffic, which had fallen significantly during the pandemic and was unable to recover earlier due to sanctions. But now the process has become more active. The tour market and citizens are opening new destinations, have adapted to the conditions and high prices. Especially since it is not uncommon for vacations in Russia to be even more expensive than abroad. Will continue to grow demand for foreign tourism - in the material "Izvestia".

Russians' spending on foreign tourism increased by 10%

"Imports of services under the article "Travel" amounted to $37.8 billion," - told "Izvestia" in the press service of the Central Bank, referring to the data for 2024. Compared to 2023, Russians' spending abroad has increased by 10%. But the most interesting point is that for the first time after the covid restrictions and the introduction of unprecedented sanctions, which again closed many foreign destinations for Russians, the spending of compatriots on trips abroad exceeded the pre-pandemic figures. Thus, in 2019, when the highest level since 2014 was recorded, they amounted to about $36.2 billion.

First of all, the increase in spending on foreign travel is explained by the expansion of tourist traffic. Thus, according to Rosstat, the number of outbound trips in January-September 2024 (for 12 months of data is not yet available - Ed.) increased in annual terms by more than 7% from 19.7 million to 21.1 million. However, the pre-pandemic figures - 35.2 million for the period - are still far away. Which suggests that the increase in spending on overseas tourism is also due to the rising prices of such trips.

- Since the pandemic, there has been a general re-evaluation of the cost of services. Very many tourist centers of attraction for our compatriots either left the market or were forced to seek funds for their restart, which affected prices, - explains the president of the investment platform "InvoiceCafe" Gennady Fofanov.

In addition, he draws attention to the impact of sanctions pressure after February 2022. Shocks affected the ruble exchange rate, foreign vacations required additional costs due to the rise in airfares against the background of the lack of direct flights, the need to take care of the purchase of currency, etc., Gennady Fofanov emphasized.

Photo: Izvestia/Eduard Kornienko

At the same time, added Lyailya Sinyatullina, Director of the Center for the Analysis of the Activities of Executive Authorities of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, adding that inflation has affected not only Russia, but also foreign countries:

- This is a worldwide trend, which is clearly seen in the EU, starting with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. And this is one of the key factors.

Or in the same Turkey, which maintains the primacy in popularity among Russians, inflation has exceeded 40%.

Why Russians choose to vacation abroad

True, even a large-scale rise in prices has not cooled the ardor of our citizens to foreign voyages. According to Alexan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies of Russia, after people sat at home in their cities without staying at home, they began to take a simpler attitude towards spending a lot of money on foreign travel.

- Every year, especially in 2024, we see that the growth of outbound travel exceeds that of domestic tourism. Tour traffic within Russia is growing by 12-15%, and abroad in 2024 increased by 20-21%, - said the representative of the industry.

Photo: Izvestia/Eduard Kornienko

Moreover, as the MTS Big Data data shows, 65% of foreign trips of compatriots last year were to non-CIS countries. The number of such trips grew by 20% year-on-year. Of all foreign destinations, the popularity of Southeast Asia increased the most (plus 38% in the number of trips). Especially experts note the growth of interest in Vietnam and Indonesia. However, Thailand is still the leader in Southeast Asia. Russians are also discovering new destinations, which indicates that they are adapting to different conditions.

The most popular country for traveling abroad in 2024 for Russians has traditionally been Turkey - it accounted for almost a quarter (23%) of all foreign trips. This is quite understandable, commented Alexan Mkrtchyan. According to him, this country, familiar to our citizens, has a good infrastructure of hotels and most of the republic has access to warm seas. In Russia, the expert emphasized, there is a catastrophic shortage of accommodation facilities, including a big deficit of 4-5 star hotels and a short season. We should not forget that the demand for our resorts is created at the expense of those Russians who are forbidden to leave the country for official reasons. Therefore, vacation inside Russia is often more expensive than in Turkey, where there is an all-inclusive system.

Will the prices for Russian resorts grow?

This year, experts interviewed by "Izvestia" predict that the growth of prices for domestic tourism will continue, which will contribute to an increase in demand for foreign travel. So, in the press service of the National tour operator Alean on the basis of early booking data already note the growth of prices for vacations by 5-10% depending on the destination. And for beach hotels in Kaliningrad region there is an increase in prices by 30-40%.

- We note a great interest to this destination. Almost everything is already sold out for the summer, there are luxury hotels for 35 thousand rubles per night, - reported in the press service of the tour operator.

Photo: Izvestia/Eduard Kornienko

The ecological disaster in the Black Sea will also have its impact on the prices of Russian resorts. According to Alexan Mkrtchyan's forecast, Anapa will "sag" in terms of money:

- This destination has already started to do so, but the main process will begin at the end of March. Now hoteliers from Anapa are frozen, they do not want to reduce prices, they are waiting for tourists to start booking summer season in April-May. But this is unlikely to happen. If last year Anapa received 4.5 million vacationers, this year it will be about 2-2.5 million, - he suggested.

According to the representative of the industry, there will be a redistribution of tourists who will go to Crimea, Gelendzhik, Sochi, Abkhazia, foreign countries. Naturally, the increase in demand for these destinations will affect prices. Alean told Izvestia that the cost of traveling to domestic destinations grows annually.

Photo: Izvestia/Mitriy Korotayev

- This is due to the rise in the price of the components of the tourist product - the cost of service staff, food and other things is rising. Therefore, we cannot say that the current rise in price is due to the situation on the Black Sea coast and the reorientation of some tourists to other domestic destinations, - said the press service of the tour operator.

By the way, it was specified there, in Anapa prices are still at the level of last year, hotels are not in a hurry to organize mass actions for the summer.