Thailand is the most popular foreign destination for Russian travelers this New Year festive season, the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) has said, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Russian’s own Sochi is the most popular domestic destination, the industry association revealed.
“Thailand’s beaches and Sochi’s ski resorts competed fiercely for Russian travelers this New Year festive season, being the top destinations of choice for tourists from European and Asian parts of the country respectively,” said Maya Lomidze, the Executive Director of ATOR, whose members include Russian tourism powerhouses Biblio Globus, Coral Travel, Natalie Tours, Pegas Touristik and others.
“The geographic factor plays an important role here as Thailand and China remain destinations number one for the regions of Siberian Federal District and the Far Eastern Federal District. Sochi is the place of choice for the residents of Ural Federal District and Central Federal District. This results into having two major winter destinations,” Lomidze said at a recent tourism forum named “Tourism results of 2018, trends in New Year demand from Russians, forecast for 2019”.
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports said in December 1.27 million Russians visited the country in the first 11 months of the year, up 10.33% from the same period of the previous year. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has set a target of 1.5 million visitors from Russia as their goal for the whole of 2018.
