Italy, Estonia and Turkey are among the top 10 destinations for Russian tourists on the National Unity Day public holiday in early November, according to Russian online travel booking service Oktogo.ru.
The booking service assessed Russians' typical travel bookings from Nov. 1 to 4 to find trends and vacation hotspots for the holiday, which gives most Russians several days off from work ahead of New Year's.
Apart from the top three destinations, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were also found to be in high demand, according to the service's press release. Russians likely choose these destinations because they are all within a short flying distance from Moscow.
The booking service also found that Russians will spend a daily average of 4,200 rubles (about $100) on hotels during the long weekend. Despite Russia's current economic woes and plummeting currency, the number of reservations made through the service has increased 2.5 times since last fall, Oktogo.ru said.
The data compiled by Oktogo.ru matches that of the Federal Agency for Tourism, which compiles the most popular tourist destinations among Russians on an annual basis. According to the state body's data, the top destinations for Russian tourists throughout the year are Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, countries with which Russia has visa-free regimes and where its citizens can receive visas upon their arrival. Germany, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic were also recorded in the federal agency's 10 most popular tourist destinations among the Russian population.
Celebrated on Nov. 4, National Unity Day was made a public holiday in 2005. It commemorates Russia's defeat of Polish invaders in 1612.
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