As the COVID-19 situation started to improve worldwide and with the restrictions getting relaxed, most Russian citizens decided to spend their holidays outside the country.
Based on the data provided by the border service of FSB of Russia, during the first half of 2021, from January until June, 806,212 persons travelled from Russia to Turkey for tourism purposes, indicating that Turkey was the most preferred destination, especially to spend the summer holidays in, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
As such, according to these figures, the number of those who travelled to Turkey increased significantly, marking a rise of 135 per cent compared to the same period last year. Still, the numbers are far from the pre-pandemic levels that were registered during 2019.
Following Turkey, the second destination that was popular amongst Russians this year was Cyprus. Around 172,671 Russians took a trip to Cyprus from January to June, which is way lower than the number of those who travelled to Turkey.
However, compared to 2020, the number of those who travelled to Cyprus this year indicates a positive development in the travel and tourism sector.
In addition to the two destinations mentioned above, Greece also welcomed a large number of Russian travellers during the first half of this year. Based on the same data presented by the border service of FSB of Russia, another 32,650 Russians travelled to Greece during the first half of 2021.
Still, the figures were lower than those of 2019, since this year most of EU destinations, without including Turkey, decided to impose strict restrictions against travellers arriving from third countries, part of which is Russia too.
Currently, Russia falls under Greece’s exemption list. This means that all Russian nationals who have been vaccinated or recovered from the COVID-19 disease are not required to follow self-isolation rules. However, they are still required to get tested upon arrival in Greece, regardless of their vaccination status.
The number of those who travelled to Finland was high too, but all of the trips were only taken for absolutely necessary purposes until June. Nonetheless, since the Finnish authorities decided to change the country’s travel restrictions, around 13,000 Russian nationals crossed the border of North Karelia between Russia and Finland during September.
According to the Finnish Border Guard (RAJA), Russians accounted for 77.5 per cent of the total border crosses in September at the North Karelia border point, marking an increase of 40 per cent compared to the same month last year.
Since other destinations such as Mexico, Maldives, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates decided to open their borders for Russian tourists, they also became popular destinations, especially for those who wanted to spend their summer holidays outside Russia.
