- Yury Aleksandrovich, last week you were present at the meeting dedicated to the development of tourism in Russia. According to the president, 80% of tour sales today are carried out through travel agencies. But have we not yet crossed the line when the tourist has become completely independent? When can he book a ticket for himself, and a hotel?
Indeed, today about 70-80% of tours are sold through tour operators. True, we are talking about tours abroad. In the domestic market, this figure is much lower, although this year and partly in the past it has changed. Sales volumes in the outbound market fell significantly (in some areas the decline was more than 50%), while in the domestic market, on the contrary, they increased: 30% in positive territory. And this is explained not only and not so much by patriotic sentiments, but by the economic situation in the country. As a result, a number of major tour operators that previously worked only for outbound travel (such as PEGAS Touristik, Biblio Globus, Coral Travel, ANEX Tour), entered the domestic market. The main thing that they brought by selling tours in Russia is, of course, the formation of package tours, which, in addition to accommodation, already include travel to the place of rest, transfer, and even excursions.
Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Yuri Barzykin. Photo: Pavel Pelevin / website- It turns out that traveling around Russia with a tour operator is now cheaper than on your own?
It turns out so. However, it is worth clarifying that we are talking more about mass destinations, and this is especially true of the Black Sea coast. Most Russians prefer beach holiday, and not being able to go abroad, people go to the Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory. If we are talking about these destinations, now package tours there are much cheaper. So, for example, a week of rest in some Sochi “three rubles” with breakfast and a flight can cost 17,500 rubles. A double room is 30,000. That is, these are absolutely competitive prices.
- Yes, but it's still a beach holiday. What about other areas?
Take Kazan – everything has been put on the right track there for a long time. Especially after the Universiade. What about Vladivostok and Russian Island? New projects are being launched in the North-West, which is represented not only by St. Petersburg. I recently returned from Perm and visited the Pskov region. The case moved off the ground. There are economy-class accommodation facilities and small hotels with ten to twenty rooms. Often this is a family business that is developing very well.
It turns out that it is now possible to relax inexpensively and in acceptable conditions only where, let's say, everything is small and cozy? And there is no point in renovating huge Soviet boarding houses in the same Crimea - will it still be more expensive?
Each case must be considered separately. Indeed, sometimes it makes no sense to renovate objects, and sometimes it does. There would be investors. Today, 99% of investors are private companies. And they will think a hundred times before investing money somewhere. And small accommodation facilities are always a quick payback. True, in a global sense, this is not a solution to the problem. After all, the payback of objects is achieved by their occupancy, and small accommodation facilities are still not enough for everyone. Therefore, if we are talking about the tourism industry as a whole, then we still cannot do without international hotel chains. They came to Sochi with difficulty, and now, look, Hyatt is there, and Swissotel, and Rixos. I am sure that over time it will be the same in Crimea.
Crimea. Evpatoria. Photo: Igor Stomakhin / website
- But while there is no corresponding infrastructure.
Exactly. What kind of investors can we talk about when even with parking lots for tourist buses are there problems? When there is no way to load tourists in an organized way, or unload them. And this, by the way, concerns not only the Crimea: in Moscow, for example, parking lots are determined every time with a fight. True, if earlier there were more and more conversations, now there has been a transition from words to action. The approach is changing, cities are changing. Tourism is good for that: it works both for those who live in these cities and for those who come to them.
A well-known travel blogger Sergey Dolya some time ago turned to his subscribers with a proposal to participate in the creation of a tourism logo for Russia. There is an opinion that at tourist exhibitions abroad, the Russian stand looks, as a rule, indistinctly. Say, it does not have a single idea and a single message. Can the diversity of our country be summed up in one idea? Or is it not even worth trying?
It's worth trying, of course. Closely engaged, I would say. As for exhibitions, it was before that we all stood apart: Moscow on its own, St. Petersburg on its own, Krasnodar region by itself. Now we are acting in a consolidated manner, and our stands look very worthy. And then, exhibitions are not only exhibitions themselves. This is a range of activities. And the programs that Russia presents at world tourism exhibitions - in London and Berlin, Tokyo and Shanghai - are always very popular. You are right, it is not easy to promote a brand because it is too many-sided and bright. But even those images that have already taken shape, such as matryoshka spoons, can be used wisely.
- Can anyone else be interested in this?
Russia is remarkable in that its tourism product for each market - Chinese, European or, for example, American - can look completely different. For example, for residents of China, which has now come out on top in terms of the number of tourists entering our country (Earlier the leadership belonged to Germany - ed.), “red tourism”, that is, everything connected with Lenin and the revolution, is extremely interesting. Europeans are more interested in nature and historical and cultural potential. For Koreans and Japanese, everything related to art and especially ballet is mandatory. Not so long ago, as part of the work of the PCT, new program- "Space Russia". A space flight will cost you $20 million or more. And in order to come to Moscow, Korolev and Kaluga and visit the planetarium, our institutes and museums of cosmonautics, you don’t need much money, especially considering the current exchange rate. Especially in summer, when the level of business activity is reduced and when prices for hotels in the capital, even 4 and 5 star categories, are pleasantly pleasing to the eye.
Kaluga. State Museum history of astronautics. Photo: Igor Stomakhin / website
Let's get back to the regions. In your opinion, promoting your own territories, which includes working with tour operators and clearing train stations with airports, is still the task of the local community. But how can he, this local community, be interested? Only money?
Well, why not only. Understand that there are no unpromising regions: one way or another, everyone is involved and everyone is trying. To the best of my ability, of course, but still. Interest in promoting your own territories has grown significantly, and if earlier I asked to tell at least something about the region, now I don’t have to ask. They will tell and show everything. True, you won’t go far with words alone: after all, no matter how much you say “halva”, it will not become sweeter in your mouth. Systematic program actions, personnel decisions and resource decisions are needed to make the territories more attractive. Tourism is interesting because it is not only an economic sphere, but also a social one. First of all, it is a driver for the intellectual growth of the population that will be employed in this area. Institutions must work to be able to train such personnel.
As for the staff, everything is sad, in my opinion. Everyone was waiting for a new generation with a European approach to come. And now it has come, but all with the same soviet. Is this problem in the approach to education in the field of tourism or is it in the mentality?
The task of staffing any major event, be it the Olympics, APEC, or the 1000th anniversary of Kazan, is comparable in importance to the task of preparing the infrastructure. So, in good hotel There must be at least one attendant per visitor. And then two. Universities train such personnel, both line and senior, but it is very difficult to adapt them to the needs of the tourism sector. Anyway, for major events, you have to use volunteers and those who work on a rotational basis.
At the meeting of the State Council, the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Oleg Safonov spoke about the development of cruise and yacht tourism. After that, the industry does not seem to have fully recovered. Does the federal targeted program for the development of tourism include funds to change the situation for the better? What do tour operators themselves say?
Today, there are practically no ships under 40 years old on our rivers, and new ones are not being built: the depreciation of the fleet is obvious. But there are already programs that imply renovations in this area. One of the primary tasks is the restoration of cruises on the Black Sea. Yalta and Sevastopol, cities that used to receive more than a hundred flights a year, are now under sanctions. Therefore, no one but us will sail to them now. There were many cruises from abroad, and the restoration of this flow is very important. And in general, the transition to cross-border complex products (when people come to one territory and visit another at the same time) should not be underestimated. Indeed, in this situation, the territories will not have to compete, and they will be interested in adding up their potentials.
Republic of Crimea. Sevastopol. Photo: Igor Stomakhin / website
Please tell us more about the 50+ program, which was also mentioned at the meeting of the State Council. Sounds very intriguing.
In fact, the program, which essentially consists of providing discounts to pensioners, is not new. It was previously sold by some of our tour operators in the outbound market. And people who are “for” or “not entirely for” participated in this program with pleasure, since this is a segment of consumers that is absolutely understandable for the market. They have a motivation to travel: such tourists are more inquisitive, they go on excursions more and devote a lot of time to health. In other words, they consume a certain set additional services. Gradually, the program is gaining momentum in the domestic market. In many ways, it becomes popular due to the subsidization of transportation and the optimal ratio of "price / quality" in the placement.
- In this whole story, for some reason, there is no emphasis on medical and health tourism. Why?
The sanatorium complex and medical and recreational resources are our main competitive advantage. You can just lie down and sunbathe in Greece and Turkey, but no one has such healing and health-improving methods as we have. In the Soviet Union, 45–50% of the total number of vacationers went to sanatoriums. Today this figure has dropped to 15-20%, and it needs to be returned. Mud, mineral waters and other healing resources are still unclaimed, because the maintenance of this entire complex is an expensive story. Previously, everything was sponsored by the state, but now much has been put on a “private track”. Therefore, the pearl, although it remains a pearl, is, alas, tarnished. That is, there are many factors for competitiveness, and the task now is not just to form a product, but also to sell it.
- How many Russians are traveling around the country today? Is there such a statistic?
Today, about 30% of our fellow citizens travel in Russia (of the total population - ed.), 12% of the total go abroad, and 42% do not go anywhere at all. No money. More than 70% want to go somewhere. That is, this is pent-up demand, which can be realized only with the direct participation of the state. Let's call it "social tourism". No direction - be it Black sea coast, Northwest, Baikal, Crimea or Siberia - will not be able to develop if there are not enough people who could pay for it. Therefore, the first task is transport and economic accessibility to tourist resources. The second is the formation of the product of the territories. It is not for nothing that we are among the top five world leaders in terms of cultural, historical, natural and recreational potential.
There are many tasks, as well as words. Is it worth counting on any significant changes in the tourism sector after the meeting of the State Council?
The meeting of the State Council is a serious impetus for the development of tourism in our country. Landmarks and main directions are set. No matter what anyone says, the state should always make its contribution first. And you need to start with infrastructure. After all, then a businessman will come and build a hotel, or even a factory. This area provides an excellent opportunity for integrated development. And I think that the priorities are absolutely right. It remains, as they say, to wash, comb and look differently. Well, finally start thinking. You can't do without it.
For as long as I can remember, after returning from another trip, my friends always interrogate me - how much do you get, where do you work, do you have any other vacancies? The guys say that at best they manage to escape somewhere once a year for 2-3 weeks, and they don’t understand how I can travel so often. Where to get time and money?
I have been traveling since 2005. At first he traveled around Russia, the CIS countries and the Crimea. After a couple of years, the number of trips per year was at least 5-7 and was constantly increasing. I traveled around cities and countries, sometimes with some friends, sometimes with others, I even traveled alone several times.
My friends always joked that I must be the CEO of Gazprom if I can afford to travel so often. For example, they saw that in the winter I went to St. Petersburg, in the spring to Egypt, Kiev and Rostov, in the summer I already visited Sevastopol 2 times. Then we met Katya, I told her my “secrets” and we began to travel even more actively. The next summer we visited Mexico, in the autumn the Emirates and Cyprus, New Year celebrated in Egypt, in the spring we went to India and Vietnam ...
We looked at 6 countries in 1 year, not counting trips around Russia. At the same time, we both worked in the office and received 30 thousand rubles each.
Where does the money come from? How much do you earn?? Is it possible to get a job in your company for the same position? I've been hearing questions like this for years now. And when Katya and I left for, my friends immediately realized that I was the owner of an oil well
Isn't traveling expensive?
Believe it or not, most people still think that traveling is very expensive. Only wealthy people can afford to go abroad or to Crimea several times a year. They simply do not believe you when you say that you work at the most ordinary job, and not in the State Duma, and they pay you an average salary there, no more than others. Also, no one believes that a ticket to Egypt can be bought for $ 500, they do not believe that we spend less in a month in Thailand or Sri Lanka than an ordinary tourist spends in a week. Where do such prejudices come from?
Egypt, Luxor
For example, remember which travel agency you asked about a trip to Egypt when you were charged $700 for a 3-star hotel without meals? Probably, you went to the shopping center and asked at the office of some well-known large travel agency. I don't know why these firms so brazenly increase prices by 3 times, but a ticket to such a hotel costs a maximum of 200 bucks.
A friend of mine told me how she had a wonderful vacation in Turkey in a five-star all-inclusive hotel and paid $ 1200 per person for everything ... I always want to ask these people, well, where do you find such high prices?? Do you specifically go to travel agencies and buy a tour where it is most expensive? I do not understand how it was possible to lay out a piece of bucks for Turkey. A ticket to any 5-star hotel in Turkey costs a maximum of $500-700.
When we set our sights on Mexico, I went into one of the offices of a well-known travel agency. I remember that I was then charged $4,500 per person. At the same time, they said that it low price, as it goes early booking half a year ahead. They also added that Mexico is a wonderful country and you definitely need to save money for it. I could hardly contain my laughter. The next day we bought tours from another travel agency for $1,300 per person, and a week later we were already in Cancun.
Mexico, Cancun
Why did I write these examples? In all cases, it can be seen that people do not know the real cost of vouchers and have no idea where to buy them. We will talk about this a little later, but now let's talk about the most important thing, about money.
Where can I book a transfer from the airport?
We use the service - KiwiTaxi
We ordered a taxi online, paid with a card. We were greeted at the airport with a sign with our name. Drove to the hotel in a comfortable car. We have already talked about their experience in this article
Where to get money for travel
"Wow! You were in Mexico! Lucky ones! I will never save up for this country!” - said one of my friends and took out his latest iPhone to show pictures of the new car ...
Try to stop mindless consumption first.
Now we all live in an era of consumption of material goods. It is worth turning on the radio or TV, as soon as a flurry of advertising falls on you.
Gadgets
Buy a new seven-core tablet! Unprecedented discounts on smartphones until the end of summer! Buy an iPhone now with a discount of 199 rubles! New laptop for the new school year! Widescreen curved TV for only 99 thousand rubles! Hurry! Hurry up! Buy all this high-tech junk!…
Consider every new gadget is a minus one trip. You think, well, okay, now I’ll buy myself a new smartphone and I’ll definitely rest on my next vacation. And to next vacation there will be something new. The new lenovo yoga tablet is half an inch wider than yours and only 19.990! You have to take it, the journey will have to wait...
Think about why you really need a new smartphone? You bought yours half a year ago. Anyway, you will not use anything except the function of the phone, sms, music, selfie camera and a couple of applications, such as VKontakte and Instagram ...
Coffee houses and sushi bars
Now all sorts of sushi bars, coffee houses, restaurants are in fashion - how often do you visit such establishments? 5 times a month, right? Each visit costs at least 1000 rubles. Do not go to such cafes for only a month and you will already free up 5 thousand rubles. Multiply by the number of warm months in a year. It turns out that if at least in the spring and summer to meet friends in nature, and not in bars, then you can save the cost of the whole trip!
When you travel, you go to restaurants every day just to eat.
I personally do not experience any aesthetic pleasure from going to restaurants. I go to these establishments only for their intended purpose - when I'm hungry and need to eat. Also in the cold season we meet with friends in bars. Another point that makes me feel uncomfortable in a cafe is the realization that their kitchen is a mess, unsanitary and expired products. By the way, this year on TV there was one program that confirmed my guesses.
Unnecessary clothes
How many unwanted clothes do you have and where did you buy them? Do not answer, probably in some mall. But this is normal, not to buy in the market. The question is rather how much you have already bought extra clothes that you have never worn or only worn a couple of times in all the time. Why were these clothes bought? Most of the things were bought "from nothing to do", because "I want some new things."
“Shopping is the best cure for stress” – this is what they assure us from the TV screen, although this statement is absolutely unfounded, but it is simply very beneficial for some people. Overcome the shopaholism in yourself and even more money will be released for travel!
I don't think I suffer from shopaholism. I have been wearing almost all of my clothes for several years and until there is a desire to replace them. And why, if the thing still retains its properties, has not been torn, has not faded. For example, I have shorts that I bought in Thailand in 2011 for 300 baht. Our regular readers must have noticed that I am in all the pictures in the same shorts.
Furniture, repair and cottage
Repair and dacha are two breakthroughs through which your money has been flowing for years. Tell me, do you often go to the famous Swedish furniture store? Have you ever wondered if you really need these fragrant thick candles or this blanket with an unpronounceable name? Do you really believe that this unpainted rack for 4990 is so necessary for you at the dacha?
Part 2 Coming soon on the blog!
I have given you a few things to think about where you can get money for travel if you are conscious about your expenses and lifestyle. Because, as it usually happens, we earn something from our work, but there is never any money, there is nothing to save. Reread these options again and think about what can be reduced or eliminated. If you're considering taking out a loan for a new TV, don't. Finally stop investing in a car and a summer house.
In the second part of the article, I will talk about practical examples of how to find time to travel if you work in an office as a hired worker 5 days a week, where to buy tickets and not overpay, what you can save on when traveling so that more money is left for excursions and many more useful things.
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That's all for today. Thank you for your attention! I hope I was able to convey my idea to you and helped you learn something new. Although, I didn’t say anything particularly new, all this is already known to many. If there is something to add, something is not clear or you do not agree with some statements, write your questions in the comments.
On the portal of the Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System (EMISS) of Russian citizens outside the country in 2017. The data in the system were provided by the FSB of the Russian Federation.
According to the FSB of the Russian Federation (its structure includes the Border Guard Service, which controls border crossings), . This is 24.13% more than in 2016, when our compatriots left Russia 33,827,420 times.
Of the total number of trips of Russians abroad, 31.87% fell on the "near abroad" - the CIS countries, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The leader here is Abkhazia with 4.358 million trips (+1.95% compared to 2016), but it is obvious that this figure includes the repeated movements of Abkhaz citizens with Russian passports, and it is extremely difficult to isolate the real tourist flow from it.
As for non-CIS destinations, it makes sense here again to focus on the total number of trips, and not on the number of trips for the purpose of the visit "tourism" - the methodology for identifying such a purpose of a visit to mass visa-free destinations is so incomprehensible.
TOP-20 EXIT DESTINATIONS "FAR" FOREIGN ABROAD IN 2017 At
In 2017, Russians made 28,604,030 trips to all non-CIS countries, which is 31.6% more than in 2016. The leaders of the TOP-20 (by the number of trips made in 2017 from Russia) were distributed as in Fig. one.
Rice. 1. TOP-20 outbound destinations by the number of trips of Russian citizens in 2017 (excluding the CIS countries, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia)
Almost all countries from the TOP-20 showed an increase in the number of trips from Russia in 2018. Turkey became the leader in terms of growth in the number of trips - +553.2%. Its results are mainly due to the 2016 closed season.
After it, the best dynamics from the TOP-20 was demonstrated by the United United Arab Emirates: +53.7% compared to 2016. In third place is Vietnam with a 30.1% growth year-on-year, followed by the Czech Republic with a growth of 27.4% and Thailand with Italy (an increase of 25.6% and 25.5% respectively).
Almost all countries from the rest of the list showed double-digit growth in tourist traffic, with the exception of Cyprus (+6.25%) and Greece (+8.90%).
Three countries from the TOP-20 exit markets, according to the border service of the FSB of Russia, showed a negative trend in the number of trips in 2017 compared to the previous year: Lithuania (-6.85%), Bulgaria (-10.3%) and Tunisia (-16.9%).
Of the countries outside the TOP-20, the dynamics of several countries is interesting. The most top scores the Dominican Republic (it also has the second place in terms of the dynamics of arrivals in general list mass destinations, immediately after Turkey) - here, according to the FSB, the number Russian tourists increased by 73.13% (to a figure of 239,862 in 2017).
In Cuba, the number of arrivals from Russia in 2017 increased by 60.1% (82,919), in Jordan - by 56%, in Austria - by 34.9% (264,082 trips), in France - by 22% (up to 524 thousand), in South Korea- increased by 16% (279,133 trips), in India - by 29.1% (233,489 trips), in Malta - by 31% (14,240 trips).
Interestingly, despite all the visa difficulties, the outbound flow to the United States also increased (by 6.3%) (269,128 trips). Dramatically, by 129%, the outbound flow in Saudi Arabia, reaching a figure of 7745 people.
The completely unique “explosion” of the outbound flow from Russia to Tanzania is also curious: from 56 people in 2016 to 2345 in 2017 (an increase of 4187%). He explains simply - this year he opened direct charter flights to Tanzania (to Zanzibar).
In 2017, the tourist flow to Qatar also "grew" sharply - by 33%, to 87.5 thousand trips. This is explained in the same way as the very small, irrelevant figures of the tourist flow * (see explanation at the end of the article) in some long-haul destinations, such as the Seychelles, Malaysia or Sri Lanka. Since the border service keeps records on boarding passes, the statistics of Qatar (as well as partially, Singapore and, to a lesser extent, Korea) reflect the growth of flights to countries South-East Asia with connections at these points.
Of the TOP-30 countries in the red in terms of the dynamics of the tourist flow, except for Lithuania, Tunisia and Bulgaria, there were also Morocco (-39%, and this is the most serious decrease in the tourist flow from the entire list of countries with relevant statistics), Singapore (-10%), Denmark ( -7.3%) and Slovakia (-4%). All other foreign destinations from the TOP-30, judging by the statistics of the border service of the FSB of Russia, showed an increase in the number of Russian arrivals in 2017.
MAIN CLASSIC OUTGOING TOURISM COUNTRIES IN 2017
You can make one more cut - in the areas of classical tourism "for the purpose of recreation and excursions" (leisure). To do this, it will be necessary to exclude from the statistics foreign countries with a predominant share of cross-border movements for the purpose of shopping or other non-tourist purposes (China, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia).
The TOP-20 of such countries in 2017 is shown below in Figure 2.
Fig.2. TOP-20 outbound destinations in 2017 ("classic tourism" for the purpose of recreation and cultural and educational purposes)
The number of trips (accurate to units) is only for 2017 (purple row).
EXPLANATION TO STATISTICS
* Recall that in 2014, Rosstat (EMISS coordinator) by order 510 introduced a new method for calculating the volume of tourist traffic, one of the features of which is that when crossing the border repeatedly, a citizen of Russia or any other country will be counted as many times as he did. “Therefore, tourist flows are measured not by the number of tourists, but by the number of trips,” the Rosstat document emphasized.
The statistics of the border service is relevant for counting the number of trips of Russians on mass outbound destinations of the "far" abroad for the purpose of recreation. The number of repeated trips per year by Russian citizens to here is not so large as to significantly distort the data on a number of foreign destinations in the far abroad in one direction or another. Nevertheless, in several areas, the discrepancy with foreign data on the number of Russian tourists in 2017 is significant, which is explained by different methods of accounting for trips).
It is also obvious that the data of the FSB border service, unfortunately, will not be relevant when counting the number of tourists traveling to border countries such as Finland, the Baltic states or Poland, partly China, as well as to the CIS countries, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Obviously, here the proportion of multiple border crossings is much higher, since most of these crossings are done for the purpose of personal shopping or (as in the case of Ukraine and a number of other CIS countries) visiting relatives.
Also, such statistics are not suitable for accounting for trips of people traveling with transfers on many long-haul routes, incl. visa-free destinations (because here the main way to get into the country is air transport, and border guards analyze only boarding passes, which indicate not the final, but the intermediate destination). That is why, for example, the number of visits to the Seychelles, Mauritius, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and others, and so large - in such non-tourist states for Russia as Qatar, whose capital is a major transit air hub.
COMPLETE STATISTICS of the departure of citizens of the Russian Federation abroad from the Border Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation for 2016-17. you can see .
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The Yandex.Travel service studied how the preferences of Russians have changed and where they traveled most often in 2018.
This year, among domestic tourists, the popularity of Hungary and Georgia has grown the most: the share of these countries in requests has increased by 5-6%. Among the resort destinations, only the United Arab Emirates has risen in the list. More countries have worsened their positions in the ranking. For example, Turkey - the second most popular travel destination after Uzbekistan - had a quarter fewer requests.
The most popular cities for flights, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, are Sochi and Simferopol. At the same time, the tourist preferences of residents of the regions differ: for example, in Novosibirsk they are more likely to look for tickets to Bangkok, in Yekaterinburg - to Prague, and in Chelyabinsk they choose Antalya.
Muscovites most often fly to Sochi, Simferopol, St. Petersburg, Yerevan, Krasnodar, Mineral water, Anapa, Chisinau, Osh and Tashkent.
September 5 became the most demanded date for traveling by plane: tickets for this day were searched for 930 thousand times. Least of all - 154 thousand requests - were for flights on January 28. The greatest interest of users is observed in travel from May to September.
Most cheap ticket in the past year it cost 499 rubles (flight Moscow - Kaluga), and the most expensive - 65 thousand rubles for a flight from Moscow to Vladivostok.
When it comes to train travel, residents of million-plus cities mostly travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg or cities nearby. Russians rarely travel abroad by train: they prefer to travel from Moscow to Minsk, and from St. Petersburg to Helsinki.
Top 10 most popular destinations for traveling by train looks like this: Petersburg, Sochi, Nizhny Novgorod, Anapa, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Voronezh, Vladimir, Minsk, Bryansk.
The cheapest train ride from Obninskoye station to Maloyaroslavets in 2018 was 44 rubles. The most expensive ticket was found in a sleeping car from Surgut to Moscow - 62,376 rubles.
After analyzing the search queries of hotels, the experts recognized the most popular hotels Krasnodar Territory. High demand is also observed for housing in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan, the rest of the places were distributed between southern cities Russia and Turkey. They also searched abroad for hotels in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Cyprus.
