Russian Tourism, Russian Tourism Statistics, Russian Outbound Figures, Russian Inbound Figures, Profile of Russian Travellers, Russia, Tourism Reports, Country Reports, Population of Russia, Economic Indicators of Russia,UHNWI's of Russia, Major Tourism Events in Russia, Travel and Tourism Indicators of Russia

1. Country report
RUSSIA

2. Fact File
Country Name: Russian Federation (Russia)
Capital: Moscow

3. Fact File
Location:
North Asia bordering • Largest country in the world in terms of
the Arctic Ocean, area (17,075,400 sq km )
extending from • Has Europe’s tallest peak, Mount Elbrus
Europe (the portion • Has the deepest lake in the world, Lake
Baikal, estimated to hold one fifth of the
west of the Urals) to
world's fresh water
the North Pacific

4. Fact File
Time Difference: Public Holidays:
Three hours ahead of January 1st-4th (New Year)
GMT in Moscow and St January 7th (Orthodox Christmas) February
Petersburg; ten hours 23rd (Day of the Defenders of the
ahead of GMT in Motherland)
Vladivostok . March 8th (International Women's Day)
May 1st-2nd (Labour Day); May 9th (Victory
Russia is divided into 9 Day)
time zones. June 12th (Independence Day) November
4th (Day of National Unity)
December 12th (Constitution Day)

5. Administrative Divisions
• Russian Federation comprises 83 Federal Subjects.
• Federal subjects are grouped into eight federal districts.
• 46 oblasts (provinces)
• 21 republics
• 9 krais (territories)
• 4 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts)
• 1 autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast)
• 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg)

6. Administrative Divisions
Oblasts:
Amur
(Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Iv
anovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipets
k, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhniy
Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan',
Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk
(Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, V
ologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl‘
Republics:
Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-
Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan
(Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Magas), Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya
(Elista), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Khakasiya
(Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), North Ossetia
(Vladikavkaz), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya
(Izhevsk)

7. Administrative Divisions
Autonomous okrugs:
Chukotka (Anadyr'), Khanty-Mansi (Khanty-Mansiysk), Nenets, (Nar'yan-Mar), Yamalo-
Nenets (Salekhard)
Krays:
Altay (Barnaul), Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Khabarovsk,
Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm', Primorskiy [Maritime] (Vladivostok), Stavropol',
Zabaykal'sk (Chita)
Federal cities:
Moscow [Moskva], Saint Petersburg [Sankt-Peterburg]
Autonomous oblast:
Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)

8. Holiday Entitlement
• State employees are entitled to 24 days holiday a year, in addition to the 10 public
holidays.
• Other employees are typically entitled to 14-31 days holiday.
• Many also take additional days to extend weekends or national holidays.

9. Holidays & Travel Seasonality
School Holidays
Russian schools are on holiday from 01 June to 01 September and over Christmas and
the New Year.
The May and November holidays
May be used for a short sun & beach trip or for a cultural or educational trip to a
nearby destination (generally with a flight of about 4-5 hours).

10. Population
• 141.7m (mid-2010 estimate)
• Decline in the population since the mid-1990s is attributed to social and
health problems which followed the collapse of the old regime
• Russia has 1,067 major cities, 11 of which have a population of 1 mn or more.
• Largest cities are Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and
Yekaterinburg.
• Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, the two main cities in Russia’s Far East
region, both have fewer than 600,000 inhabitants.
• Moscow, the capital, has a population of about 10.5 mn and is the largest city
in the country, as well as being the economic and political centre, the seat of
the president, the government and the Duma (Parliament).

11. Population, Age - wise
Breakdown (%) 2010 2020f
0 - 4 years 5.4 5.4
5 - 14 years 9.6 11.3
15 - 24 years 14.4 9.9
25 - 34 years 16.3 14.7
35 - 44 years 13.6 16.1
45 - 54 years 15.7 13.0
55 - 64 years 12.1 14.1
65 - 74 years 7.4 9.7
75 - 84 years 4.6 4.3
85+ 0.9 1.4
Source: ETC

12. Age Group : Growth Pattern
• 0-24 years: 29%; 25-59 years: 53%; over 60: 18%. This compares with world
averages of 45%, 35% and 11%.
• According to the UN, the numbers of children and young people (aged 0-24) will
fall by 13% by 2020 and those aged 25-59 will fall by 7%, while the numbers of
those over 60 will increase by 20%.
•

13. Annual Data 2011* Historical 2007-
Averages(%) 2011
Economic Population(mn 143.0 Population 0.1
) Growth
Indicators GDP (US$ bn; 1,857.8 2.8
market Real GDP
exchange rate) growth
GDP (US$ bn; 2,386 Real domestic 4.5
purchasing demand
power parity) growth
GDP per head 12,990 10.0
(US$; market
exchange rate) Inflation
GDP per head 16,681 Current- 5.3
(US$; account
purchasing balance
power parity)
*Actual (% of GDP)
Exchange rate 29.4 FDI inflows 3.5
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit
(av) Rb:US$ (% of GDP )

14. Travel & Tourism Indicators
• T&T industry, 2010 estimates
Percent 2011-2020
of Total Annual Growth
(% forecast)
GDP (US$ millions) : 16,412 1.1 4.8
Employment (1,000 jobs) : 642 0.9 -0.7
• T&T economy, 2010 estimates
GDP (US$ millions) : 92,583 6.0 5.7
Employment (1,000 jobs) : 3,538 5.1 0.1
Source: World Travel & Tourism Council, TSA Research 2010

15. Increasing Consumer Income & Expenditure

16. Ultra High Net Worth Individuals
(UHNWIs)
• Greatest UHNWI growth has been in the BRIC nations of
Brazil, Russia, China, and India.
• Russia has more than 100 billionaires ranking third in the world after US and
China.
• Russian UHNWIs are younger; the average age of the UHNWI in Russia is just
49.
Note: UHNWI has minimum net worth of US$1 billion.
Source: Forbes Insights, 2011

17. Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index
• Travel & Tourism Business Environment & Infrastructure
Out of 139 countries Russia ranked 30th for Air Transport Infrastructure, , 45th
for Tourism Infrastructure, 46th for Information & Communications Technology
Infrastructure, 75th for Price Competitiveness in Travel & Tourism Industry and
95th for Ground Transport Infrastructure.
• Travel & Tourism Regulatory Framework
Ranked 11th for Health and Hygiene, 98th for Environmental
Sustainability, 102nd for Prioritization of Travel & Tourism, 113th for Safety &
Security and 126th for Policy , Rules and Regulations.
• Travel & Tourism Human, Cultural & Natural Resources
Ranked 27th for Natural Resources, 35th for Cultural Resources and 78th for
Human Resources
Source: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011

18. Russian Outbound

19. Outbound Tourism
• Only 20 years ago Russians were banned from travelling abroad.
• Good growth of outbound tourism in the last decade driven by Russia’s gas and oil
- rich economy, which generated increased prosperity, rising incomes and a strong
rouble.
• In 1995 only 2.6 million Russians went on holiday outside the former Soviet Union;
by 2006 the figure had trebled, to 7.7 million.

20. Rebound From Financial Crisis
• 2008 was the best year ever for Russia’s tourism industry - 11.3 million Russians
took vacations abroad.
• In 2009 outbound tourism declined by 15.5% to 9.5 million due to global financial
crisis.
• In 2010, the number of Russian passengers travelling abroad soared by 38% in the
first 4 months rising to approximately 1.5 million people.
• Intourist, Russia’s largest operator, reported a threefold increase in the number of
Russians buying travel offers in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same
period in 2009.

21. Outbound Trips
• The figures include same-day trips – mainly cross-border trips for shopping and
shuttle-trading as well as trips by those not classified by UNWTO as ‘tourists’, such
as coach drivers and the crews of ships, airlines and rail companies.
• Holiday trips probably include some travel for business purposes, as visas for
business trips are often more difficult to obtain.
• The average annual growth in total trips from 2003 to 2008 was 12%; that for
holiday trips was 15%. Both total and holiday trips are thought to have declined by
18% in 2009.

22. Central Eastern Europe - Main Outbound
Destination

23. Top non - CIS
destinations
for
2005-2008
('000 trips)

24. Luxury Travel Market
• The demand for luxury travel is expected to grow, especially in relation to
emerging economies, e.g., in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China).
• In Europe, the main luxury outbound markets remain the
U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Holland.
• Russia represents the fastest growing market for outbound travel, and Russian
tourists demonstrate a preference for leading brands, opulent hotels, and exclusive
restaurants.
• Russians have contributed to the emergence of a luxury segment in new
destinations like Montenegro, and have revitalised traditional destinations like the
French Riviera and Courchevel
Source: ILTM Report

25. International Tourism Expenditure

26. Purpose Of Travel
• Official figures on the purpose of outbound trips are not considered reliable due to
the large numbers of business travellers who report that they are travelling for
leisure purposes in order to simplify visa and other processes.
• IPK International’s Russia Travel Monitor suggested in 2006 that holidays account
for 56% of total trips, other leisure (including VFR) for 19%, and business travel for
25%. The breakdowns reported by individual destinations vary widely.
• Main purpose of visit was 47% business (an unusually high proportion), 24%
holidays, 19% VFR, 10% study and other(VisitBritain, 2008)

27. Source Regions
• More than 40% of all Russian outbound travellers live in Moscow followed by St.
Petersburg
• Demand from big provincial cities such as Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk had been
growing faster than that from the capital, but it suffered more from the economic
recession in 2008-09.

28. Travel Formalities
• Visas are required by Russians for most countries in Europe and others.
• Turkey, the leading holiday destination, gives visa-free access for Russians.
• Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia also have visa-free access for Russians. Israel and
Egypt (important competitors for European destinations), among others, also offer
visa-free travel or visas on arrival for Russians.

29. Information Sources
• Internet - Internet users also prefer personal recommendations for travel
information.
• Word of mouth
• Travel agents
• According to travel trade, the main sources of travel information are printed
materials, such as catalogues, booklets and leaflets, outdoor advertising
(banners, billboards), and radio and television.

30. Booking Methods
• Russians frequently use the internet to compare prices of flights, hotels and
package prices but very few actually book over the internet - partly because
e-commerce is still not well developed in Russia and partly because they need the
support of travel agents for their visa applications.
• A small number of Russians do book hotels directly. These tend to be more
experienced and independent travellers.
• A number of surveys in recent years have noted a shift from group to FIT travel.
However, many destinations have also reported a shift towards all-inclusive holiday
packages over the last five years (from 20% to 54% in Greece and 5% to 17% in
Croatia and Montenegro, for instance).

31. Online Population
• Internet World Stats puts the number of internet users in Russia at 45.25 mn
(32.3% of the population) in December 2009.
• In December 2008 there were 30.5 mn internet subscriptions (21.5 per 100
inhabitants - compared to 30% in advanced economies), but only 9.3 mn
broadband subscriptions (6.6 per 100 inhabitants, compared with the 25-30 in
advanced economies).
• Popular search engines are Yandex and RamblerMedia
• Russians have become intensive users of social networking sites. ComScore found
that in June 2009, of 31.9 mn internet users that month, 18.9 mn (59%) had visited
at least one social networking site. The most popular are
Vkontakte, Odnoklassiniki, Mail.ru and Fotostrana

32. Russian Inbound

33. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (Top 15 Countries)
Russia
For 2011: Jan – Sep person -times

34. Foreign Visitors, Different Continents

35. International Tourism Receipts

36. Major Tourism Events
• Intourfest, St. Petersburg www.restec.ru/exhibitions/
• INTOURMARKET, Moscow www.itmexpo.ru/en/
• Moscow International MICE Forum, Moscow www.miceforum.ru
• Moscow Boat Show 2013, Moscow www.eng.mosboatshow.ru/
• MITT , Moscow www.mitt.ru/
• Leisure without borders. Summer, St Petersburg
www.old.restec.ru/exhibitions/featured/travelexpo/summer.en.html
• Horex Siberia, Novosibirsk
www.sibfair.ru/en-GB/home/about.../HOREX-Siberia.aspx

37. Major Tourism Events
• TOURSIB, Novosibirsk www.toursib.sibfair.ru/eng/
• Boat and Yacht Show, Novosibirsk www.sibextreme.sibfair.ru/eng/
• Moscow Golf Show, Moscow www.moscowgolfshow.ru/
• MITF Moscow, www.zapaday.com/event/66762/1/Mitf.html
• MIB Expo, Moscow www.mibexpo.ru/en/
• Otdykh Leisure, Moscow www.tourismexpo.ru/en/
• MATIW-Leisure ,Moscow www.msiexpo.ru/en/leisure/
• INWETEX CIS Travel Market, St. Petersburg www.travelexhibition.ru/en/index/

38. References
• Goskomstat
• World Tourism Organisation
• World Travel & Tourism Council
• European Travel Commission
• Euromonitor International
• Economic Intelligence Unit
• CIA Factbook

39. Disclaimer
The report is based on the information from the published sources and references
mentioned and inferences drawn are from them. Stark Tourism Associates and its
parent organization, The Stark Group and the Group Companies - Stark
Communications, Stark Expo, Stark World Publications are not responsible for
errors/omissions that could have crept in knowingly or unwittingly.