Experts estimated the growth of tourist flow to Russia this summer

Last tourist season, Russia was visited by 21% more foreigners than last summer. This is evidenced by the results of an analysis of the connections to the Megafon network of subscribers of foreign operators.

Analysts said that the number of visitors from neighboring countries increased by 57%. The largest growth was shown by Kazakhstan (+95%), Uzbekistan (+84%) and Belarus (+79%). At the same time, most of the guests came to Russia from China. However, their total number decreased slightly (by 8%) compared to last year. Thailand showed record growth (over 400%), although it did not enter the top 10 countries in terms of the number of tourists arriving.

The flow of tourists from Europe decreased by 4% (20% of the total number of foreign visitors). At the same time, the number of subscribers from France and Austria increased by 50% and 8%, respectively. These two European countries ranked seventh and sixth in the ranking of countries in terms of the number of travelers who visited Russia.

The UAE and the USA complete the top 10. The number of tourists from the United Arab Emirates increased by 24%, and from the United States by 56%. Despite a 39% increase in the number of visitors from African countries, their share remained at the level of last year.

The regions of first entry were most often Moscow (23%) and St. Petersburg (22%). Another 15% crossed the border in the Far East, mostly from Asian subscribers.

According to Alexander Shinkarev, Director of the Department for work with telecom operators and roaming at Megafon, the operator builds optimal technological cooperation with foreign partners, which makes it possible to improve the quality of services for subscribers from more than 200 countries. Thanks to this, foreigners get stable access to modern means of communication, "which makes our country even more attractive for tourists."

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