Russians Place Greece Among Top 3 Favorite Destinations

Greece was ranked third in the leading destinations selected by Russian tourists for their trips abroad in 2014, recording a 17 percent drop compared to 2013, according to the Russian Federation’s Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm).

Topping the list of Russian favorites for the 13^th time was neighboring Turkey with 3.2 million arrivals, a 7 percent increase compared to the previous year. Egypt came second with 2.5 million incoming Russian travellers, recording a 34 percent rise compared to the previous year.

In the meantime, Spain entered the Top 10 destination choices with 980,000 trips made, dropping by 3 percent compared to 2013. Thailand came fifth with 933,000 arrivals, down by 10 percent, Germany sixth at 820,000, reduced by 1 percent, and Cyprus 10^th with 549,000 visitors, posting a 5 percent drop.

In 2014, Russians made a total of 17.6 million trips abroad, 4 percent less than a year earlier. Since 2003, with the burst of Russian travel, international holidays dropped by 15.4 percent in 2009 and then again in 2014.

The almost 50 percent plunge in the rate of the ruble is seen as leading to the decline in travel as Russian spending power dropped by 28 percent last year.