Number of tourist trips in Russia up 10% during New Year holiday period
MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) - The number of tourist trips in Russia during the New Year holidays rose approximately by 10% compared with the same period last year, with top destinations including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan, the press service for Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko told Interfax on Thursday.
"The expected growth in the number of tourist trips at the start of 2025 is around 10% compared with the same period last year. This corresponds with the general annual dynamic," the service said.
The rise in domestic tourism stimulates the development of ski resorts, it said. Thus, new pistes and lifts have opened in Perm Territory, the Samara and Tver regions, and in Khabarovsk Territory. The existing resorts are undergoing expansion and reconstruction. Seaside winter holiday also is gaining popularity.
A survey conducted by the Economic Development Ministry and the Ostrovok online hotel and apartment booking service late last year found Russians giving preference to domestic tourism over New Year holidays.
The most popular destinations by the number of accommodation bookings among Russian travelers were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar and Krasnaya Polyana.
In January-November 2024, the number of tourist trips in Russia increased to almost 80 million and was expected to be around 92 million for the whole year, Chernyshenko said earlier.