Russian tour operators suffered yet another period of poor sales in the first half of 2016, with 2 million Russians deciding to stay at home for their summer vacations.
Both domestic and outbound markets saw a drop in customers, said Maya Lomidze, head of the Russian Association of Tour Operators.
Tour operators had been expecting a difficult season, Lomidze told the RIA Novosti news agency. “According to our estimates, roughly two million Russians just haven’t gone anywhere this year,” she said.
One in five Russians spent their holidays at home, a survey by state-run pollster VTsIOM revealed on Friday, a rise from 14 percent in 2015.
Just 7 percent of Russians traveled abroad for their summer vacations, with only 5 percent making it outside the former Soviet Union, VTsIOM found.
It follows disappointing figures from 2015, when just 8
percent of Russians left the country. The figure had previously peaked at 11
percent in 2014, before low oil prices and Western sanctions plunged Russia
into economic uncertainty.
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