Tourism in Russia

Tourism in Russia

Russian tourism industry is growing fast after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991. Almost all travel centers are concentrated in Moscow and Saint Petersburg cities because they have a lot of places of interest for travelers like Red Square and Kremlin in Moscow, Petropavlovskaya fortress and Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Russia is a popular place to travel because of its great cultural heritage and dramatic history.

Until now, inbound tourism in Russia, whose potential estimated by many experts as extremely high, demonstrates the extremely low rate of development.

The main problem for the development of tourism in Russia is the language barrier. And also one inconsistence: people who speak a foreign language, are considered foreigners, and the cost of visiting many attractions and souvenirs may be different for them several times higher to relative prices for the local population. But why?

Inbound tourism in Russia is hampered by high prices and lack of advertising abroad as well as the criminal situation in our country. Prices for hotel rooms and other services used by tourists coming to us are too much high. Another problem for the tourism in Russia is slow appearance of new tourism products, few new routes, which foreigners can take. Most tourists are in Russia only once. And basically they have the easiest route, which is Moscow-Petersburg.

Although there are many other cities in Russia, famous for their architecture and their history. For example, Novgorod the Great and its old Kremlin, churches, and birch bark. We can offer not only cultural, but also an active form of recreation. This is hunting, farming, fishing, cycling, hiking, boating, skiing, caving, etc.

Talking about inbound tourism, number of arrivals in Russia was 22,281,000 as of 2010. Over the past 15 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 23,676,000 in 2008 and a minimum value of 10,290,000 in 1995.The greatest             are: Finland, Poland,  Litva, China and Germany.

As regard outbound tourism, number of departures in Russia was 39,323,000 as of 2010. Over the past 15 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 39,323,000 in 2010 and a minimum value of 10,635,000 in 1998.

Last, but not least comes domestic tourism. There is no statistic figures, but in general, this type is crutial for Russian, as we have a lot of destinations,  tourists motivation  and money , but  no facilities.

The percent of the GNP that is generated by tourism industry is 5.9 % in 2011, and, in contrast, in 2007 it was a little biger-6.7%

Tourism in Russia sustains 4 million jobs in different parts of the country and this number skyrockets faster than in other sectors.

Now, some feedback. According to a study of the Higher School of Economics Russia in the minds of foreigners is still mainly associated with Russian doll (matrioshka), caviar, and vodka. Foreign tourist does not consider Russia as a country of unfriendly people. More than a third of respondents agreed that Russia has high prices for substandard services.