Outbound tourism up almost 20% in Q1 2013 in Russia
MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - Outbound tourism in Russia grew 19% year-on-year to over 3.3 million in the first quarter of 2013, the Federal Tourism Agency website reported on Monday, referring to tentative data from Rosstat.
The most popular tourist destinations were Egypt (575,300 Russian tourists), Thailand (379,800), Finland (259,000), China (227,600), the United Arab Emirates (218,000) and Germany (202,900).
Russian tourist arrival grew by 72% in Japan (7,600), 51% in Jordan (3,370), 48% in Greece (14,100) and the United States (38,700), 46% in Malta (2,000), and 45% in South Korea (30,000).
Tourist arrivals also grew in popular destinations, among them Finland (43%), Egypt (42%), the United Arab Emirates (32%) and Spain (27%).
Meanwhile, Russians were losing interest in Norway (21% decline year-on-year), Slovakia (18%), China and Poland (15%), Hungary (9%) and Estonia (8%).
The total number of Russians who traveled abroad in the first quarter of this year stood at 9.523 million or 15% more year-on-year. The number of official trips dipped by 22% (234,600).
