El número de turistas individuales en Moscú crece

The flow of organized tourist groups to Moscow reduces, but this reduction is compensated for by the growth of the individual travelers’ flow. As announced the head of the Tourism Committee Sergey Shpilko, this tendency can be explained by the fact that individual trips for foreigners are cheaper.

According to Sergei Shpilko, during the last four years metropolitan tourism industry is working on a product that will be popular including in crisis. ”First of all, these are cheap city-breaks which mean short tours for 3–4 days. But there has been a trend towards a longer stay of tourists in the city, and it is very important for us. It will be even more important if Moscow becomes a city where tourists return. According to the results of the recent survey of the institute of social marketing, three-quarters of guests express the desire to return to the capital” – announced the official.

Now during the crisis Moscow places the emphasis on attracting tourists from China, Israel, Turkey and South Korea. Due to visa-free regimes, the number of tourists from these countries has significantly increased this year that compensates for the reduction of the flow of tourists from Europe and the United States.

According to preliminary estimates of Mosturizm, in total 5.7 million foreign tourists visited Moscow in 2014, while by the end of the year due to the economic crisis, the capital has become one of the most financially accessible to foreigners. Thus, according to the New Year bookings, Moscow rose to the 15th line among 51 European cities with the most comfortable economic conditions for travelers.