According to the ATOR (Association of Russian Tour Operators) analytical service, a list of the top countries visited by Russian tourists from January to June 2023 has been comprised using official foreign statistics. As anticipated, Turkey was the most visited country by Russian travelers.
1: Turkey
In the first half of 2023, 2,614,029 Russian travelers visited Turkey, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey reported. This is a decrease of only 3.5% from pre-pandemic levels, but the situation is still complex.
2: United Arab Emirates
Based on a cautious estimate, it is anticipated that over 800,000 Russians will visit all of the UAE's emirates in the first six months of 2023. The emirate of Dubai alone welcomed 554,000 Russian visitors between January and May. Russia is now the UAE's second most significant source market, following India, and it is the top market for "real" tourists (as Indians mainly come for work). Russians are showing strong interest in summer trips to the UAE, and this year could set a new record for tourist arrivals. However, some of the tourist traffic includes transit trips.
3: Thailand
Thailand's Ministry of Sports and Tourism has reported that in the first half of 2023, around 791,562 Russians arrived through direct and connecting flights. This is a significant increase compared to the previous year, but it's important to note that this growth is from a relatively small starting point. This is because there were no direct flights from Russia in 2022.
4: Egypt
As per the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, around 750,000 Russian tourists arrived during the year's first half. Most of these visitors came through tour operators.
5: Sri Lanka and Maldives
In the first half of the year, Sri Lanka welcomed 110,275 tourists from Russia. At the same time, Maldives saw a similar number of 109,361 Russian citizens arriving on their shores during the same period, according to official data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Maldives Immigration Department, respectively.
In the first half of the year, Indonesia received over 80 thousand tourists from the Russian Federation, placing it outside the top 5 destinations for Russian visitors. Cuba had 67.6 thousand Russian tourists, while Vietnam saw 62 thousand arrivals from January to June. Malaysia had approximately 55 thousand visits, Seychelles welcomed 30,573 Russians, and Cyprus had over 29 thousand.