Prosperous Russians like to holiday abroad again

Russians’ trips to Finland are mostly regarded as business travel, not tourism

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By Jussi Niemeläinen
     
      The Russians are on the move again.
      Only the statistics for the first half of this year are currently available, but already according to these the number of visits abroad by Russian tourists grew by no less than 43 per cent compared with a year earlier.
      During the early part of 2010, Russians performed no fewer than 5.5 million holiday trips abroad, and the rate does not show any signs of slowing down.
      Having said that, the base-year was particularly bad, as in 2009 the recession caused the Russian economy to shrink by eight per cent and tourism by 15%.
     
Of all the holiday destinations, Thailand has most increased its popularity among the Russian vacationers.
      In the whole of last year just over 265,000 Russian tourists travelled to Thailand, whereas the corresponding figure for the first half of this year alone is already more than 250,500.
      In the Thai holiday resort of Phuket, the Russians are the most important group of foreign visitors, after the Brits and the Australians.
     
The reasons for this are obvious, explained Roman Afanasyev from Moscow, while queueing for the check-in of the Transaero Phuket flight at the Domodedovo Airport in the capital on Thursday night.
      “Warm water for swimming, good food, completely different kinds of vegetables and fruits to taste.”
      Afanasyev has already been to Thailand twice before.
      Besides the sun, Phuket’s attractions include big waves.
      ”And the beach”, pointed out Daniil Afanasyev, 11.
     
Besides Moscow departures , leisure flights to Thailand are also organised by several different airlines from St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and Nizhnevartovsk.
      As tourists, Russians are very much in demand.
      For example, according to the authorities in Cyprus, Russian tourists spend more money than foreign visitors on average.
      Equally, Russians usually prefer longer stays.
     
For this reason, many important tourism countries do not require visitor visas from Russians, or alternatively such documents are issued automatically upon arrival.
      Apart from Thailand, these countries include the popular destinations of Egypt and Turkey, but also Vietnam, the Philippines, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
     
Of course not everybody is able to travel to such exotic destinations.
      A great majority of the Russian citizens do not even own a passport.
      One reason for this is that most of the former Soviet Union states are accessible to holders of a mere Russian domestic passport.
      The more weighty reason is of course money: there are still a lot of poor people in Russia.
     
The growing middle class, on the other hand, spend their beach holidays more and more often elsewhere than on the stony shores of the Black Sea.
      “I travel abroad twice a year for a holiday. I have been to Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Tunisia, and in many other countries. Thailand is my favourite”, explained Roman Afanasyev.
     
Not all foreign travel by Russians is classified as tourism.
      According to Russian authorities, during the first half of the year no less than 1,485,000 journeys were made for example to Finland.
      Of these, only one in five - 310,000 trips - were regarded as tourism per se.
      The rest were mainly filed as "business travel" or the movement of Russians living in Finland.
      Russians’ eagerness to travel to Finland has increased continuously.
      The end of the year’s visa application influx remains anybody’s guess, but it is estimated that this year Finland will issue nearly a million visas to Russian visitors.
      And most of these are multiple-entry visas.
     
Over the Russian New Year, finding accommodation at a hotel in any of Finland's larger ski resorts like Ruka in Kuusamo is a vain hope, especially if the hotel happens to have a spa on site.
      Last year the numbers fell away, but the expectation is that they will have turned upwards again this time around.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.11.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Fewer Russian New Year tourists than a year ago (31.12.2009)

JUSSI NIEMELÄINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jussi.niemelainen@hs.fi