Tourists from Russia want to get to European countries. What’s waiting for them there?

Tourism expert Kotlyar: Europe is turning to tourists from Russia

Traveling Russians got tired of Turkey, Egypt and other non-alternative destinations with direct flights and gradually began to return to their beloved Europe. The tourist flow to the EU countries increased by 30 percent compared to last year. Experts of the tourism industry declare with one voice: these are very significant figures! At the same time, there are those who are still afraid of traveling to the Old World. Read more about this in the material ” “.

Everyone rushed to Europe

According to the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), the number of bookings for the second half of 2024 in some European countries has increased by up to 70 percent compared to the same period in 2023. For example, this affected Hungary, where Russians can now fly from Yerevan with the low-cost airline Wizz Air.

At the same time, hotel bookings in Montenegro increased by 66 percent, in Bulgaria — by 64 percent, and in Greece — by 56 percent.

According to tourism expert Maya Kotlyar, such a significant increase in the tourist flow also occurred due to VIP travelers who travel to European countries in the summer not only overseas, but also for sightseeing programs.

Italy, Spain, Greece and France are the most popular among vacationers. Wealthy compatriots also show interest in trips to Portugal, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Cyprus.

Only a solvent person can afford to travel to Europe, taking into account the prices of air tickets. Of course, they are not as cosmic as they used to be, but they are still ah

Maya Kotlyar is a tourism expert

In 2023, the cost of the flight reached 250-300 thousand rubles per person per ticket. Now a round—trip flight will cost an average of 100 thousand, a low-cost airline – about 60 thousand.

At the same time, at the end of July, rich tourists had another way to get to Europe — by water. The Russian cruise ship Astoria Grande will travel from Sochi and in 2025 will perform three ten-day cruises on new routes to Greece.

The program includes visits to Rhodes, Mykonos, as well as Lesbos or Santorini, depending on the choice of route. In addition, two week-long cruises are planned for July and September, during which the passenger ship will pass along the coast of the Athos peninsula.

₽ 150 thousand

the starting price of a cruise for 10 nights per person

“The route has already been formed, but for some reason it is not particularly covered in the media,— Kotlyar said. — But such news cannot but please. With slow steps, Europe is turning towards Russia.”

The abundance of connecting flights has sparked the interest of Russians in Europe

Experts note that the return of Russians’ interest in traveling to Europe is facilitated by the emergence of a large number of connecting flights through post-Soviet states.

Due to this, demand for Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus increased by 20 to 70 percent over the year. The duration of trips has also increased: vacation expenses in these countries are often comparable to spending on Turkey.

“The growth in demand that we are seeing today is largely stimulated by the emergence of new air routes — if Istanbul, Dubai and Belgrade used to dominate the role of transfer hubs, now alternative flights with transfers in the CIS countries and Georgia are available to tourists,” explained Daria Kochetkova, managing director of the Ostrovok service.

As an example, the head of the company cited the launch of Wizz Air flights from Kutaisi to Rome, Milan, Budapest, Athens, Thessaloniki and Larnaca, as well as Fly One from Yerevan to Tivat

Representatives of the Russian Express, in turn, record an increase in the popularity of Cyprus among compatriots by 22.5 percent, Italy — by 63 percent, Greece — by 58 percent. Dmitry Gorin, Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), pointed out that the number of applications for the Italian Schengen alone increased by 36 percent.

The average cost of an organized tour to Cyprus currently stands at 276 thousand rubles, to Italy — 334 thousand rubles, to Greece — 467 thousand rubles. For comparison, Russians have to pay an average of 252 thousand rubles for a trip to Turkey for July-August 2024.

What difficulties are waiting for tourists?

The main difficulties faced by Russians when planning trips to Europe have already been overcome, experts say. First of all, they were associated with bank cards. Now there are no such problems: foreign plastic can be easily issued even remotely.

Most often, domestic tourists open maps in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

The entire registration process takes on average from two to seven days, in some countries you can get the coveted card in less than a day

Visa issues that were frozen in 2022-2023 have also been more or less debugged. Even though the time frame for obtaining the Schengen is still quite long, work is underway to issue it. At the same time, the head of the Glavvisa company, Daria Kletchenkova, in an interview with Lenta.” noted that tourists are still reluctant to get used to new circumstances.

“It is still very unusual for Russians to understand that Schengen travel to Italy takes 2.5 months,” she added. — They are used to the fact that in just a week you can break into Milan or Paris. Now there is no such thing, now forecasting is our everything.”

Visa issues need to be resolved three to four months before the trip, and preferably all six months, the expert believes. This applies to the purchase of air tickets, and booking tours and hotels.

“I recommend that my clients plan a trip to Europe for the New Year right now,” Kletchenkova continued. “But in principle it has always been like this, hotel rooms in popular ski resorts are sold out very quickly.”

Moreover, the specialist stressed that currently “long” visas are issued much less often than ever. Therefore, Russians inevitably become real stamp collectors.

At the same time, there are still countries that issue Schengen for six months or even more. We are talking about France, Hungary and Italy.

In almost all European embassies, it has become more difficult to register for the Schengen application. It’s all the fault of bots, “buggy” sites and demand far exceeding supply. A very serious problem is delays in issuing visas

Daria Kletchenkov, Head of the Glavvisa company

The specialist also pointed out that Greece has distinguished itself more than ever in visa refusals this season. They were even given to tourists with fully paid tours and purchased air tickets.

“I could have lost my dream trip”

Alexandra, a resident of Moscow

I’m flying to see Adele perform in Munich in a few days. I was also planning to meet my brother there, whom I hadn’t seen for two years, so this trip was very important for me.

I applied for a visa on June 10, and my choice fell on Italy. It is one of the few European countries that is still actively issuing them to Russian citizens. Besides, my last three-year Schengen was just Italian.

I have been fishing for a free window on the visa application center’s website for two weeks. I was warned that the deadline for reviewing documents has increased to 60 days.

As a result, I received a passport with a stamp only in early August. During the entire waiting period, I was under extreme stress and tension, because I could lose the desired trip and go to the dream concert.

By the way, I was only given Schengen for a month. To say that I’m upset is to say nothing. Of course, no one explained the reasons, although all visa specialists assured me that it would be semi-annual.

Russians do not complain about “sidelong glances” in Europe

The third issue that hindered the growth of the tourist flow was discriminatory actions against Russians. Experts are in a hurry to reassure the Russians — all this is also going away.

“None of the tourists who have visited Europe recently have encountered anti—Russian sentiments,” says Maya Kotlyar. — This can be traced back to publications in the media. There are many times fewer such stories. On the contrary, Europeans are quite warm and tolerant of Russian residents.

None of the domestic travelers complained of “sideways glances”, and when crossing the border they are asked standard questions about the purpose of the trip. The Europeans also try to avoid the topic of politics, if the Russians themselves do not raise it.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Mirror newspaper writes that travelers were afraid to go to the resorts of Spain because of the dissatisfaction of local residents with the influx of foreigners in the summer months. It is noted that hotels on the islands of the state gripped by protests are losing guests.

Vacationers call hotels to make sure that the vacation will be safe. However, many of them cancel reservations due to aggressive tourist phobes.

Riots are mainly observed in Barcelona, as well as in Tenerife, Mallorca and Lanzarote

Local residents paste over the cars of visitors with inscriptions calling for them to go home, and also paint graffiti on the walls demanding to deal with vacationers.

“For several weeks now, we have been receiving calls from guests concerned about the news about tourist phobia,” said Yoann Blank, president of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of the Balearic Islands.

“Italian waiters fancied themselves descendants of a great empire”

Sabina, a resident of Moscow

A week ago, my husband and I returned from a trip to Italy. We managed to visit Rome, Florence, Santa Margarita Liguri, Portofino, Milan and Venice.

During all this time, we have never encountered negativity or rudeness from local residents. Only Italian waiters behave a little arrogantly towards all tourists.

Apparently, they think of themselves as descendants of a great empire, so they are a little arrogant and arrogant. That’s probably why the service in restaurants is far from what we are used to in Moscow.

Sabina is a Russian tourist

Another situation in which we felt slighted occurred when trying to get tax free for purchases.

We have heard that border guards threaten to confiscate them under the pretext that Russians are prohibited from purchasing and importing Western branded products into the country due to sanctions. They explained to us in boutiques that they would issue all the documents without any problems, but then we would not be able to get anything at the airport.

“Half-naked gay men sunbathing in the park”

Russian traveler Olga

I spent my vacation in Germany and was once again convinced of how disgusting the service in European countries is. The Germans could not cope with the influx of tourists due to the European Football Championship, and it was felt at every step.

But if you can survive a terrible service, then one story still can’t get out of my head. My friends and I decided to sit in a park in the center of Berlin, where there were many people, including children. About 10 meters away from us, a girl and her family were celebrating a baby shower (a custom when friends and family gather to celebrate the upcoming birth of a baby and support an expectant mother — approx. ).

Gradually, guys began to approach the park and undress — some to their underpants, some completely naked. At first, I was completely at a loss. Then they explained to us that we were located in an unspoken clearing for gays

Olga is a Russian woman

At some point, one man from this company got down on all fours and began to relax and sunbathe. It seemed that this action did not bother anyone but us. We sat and couldn’t figure out whether he was catching solar photons, or warming up, or whether it was a call for something.

“Genoa has turned into a disadvantaged area of the African Republic”

Georgy, a resident of Moscow

The last stop on my trip to Italy with my wife was Genoa. Upon arrival in this town, we had the feeling that we were transported to some kind of “third world country”.

After the pretty streets and taverns, stylish Italians and tourists, we saw a real ghetto. In some areas of Genoa, I didn’t even see European faces. It was simply flooded with African Americans, which is why the entire entourage became appropriate.

From an Italian port city, it has turned into a dysfunctional dirty area of the African Republic. Everything I saw caused a wild feeling of pity towards the Italians and their culture.

There are a lot of homeless people in Rome. A lot of refugees and African Americans sell small things on the streets near the main attractions of the city. But for some reason it seems to me that there are a lot of them in Italy in general. We often saw posters on the walls warning about pickpockets. Apparently, there are enough of them too, fortunately we were spared.

“Nothing will stop me”

Nevertheless, despite all the nuances, the demand for Europe is steadily growing, and this is confirmed by all tour operators. Russians themselves, who have not been to their favorite countries for a long time, note that they are ready to overcome any obstacles on the way to the dream.

“I haven’t been to Italy for two years, and the last time I visited Rome, in September 2022, mobilization began, and I couldn’t rest in peace, I was nervous every day and wanted to return home to my family as soon as possible. I recently received an Italian visa, waited for it for about two months, even had to postpone the dates of the trip, but I don’t care. I really want to go to Sicily, and nothing will stop me, even the eruption of Mount Etna,” laughs Muscovite Polina.

Her friend Anastasia also complains that she has not been to Europe for a long time and really wants to get there. “The last time I applied for a visa to Italy, two years ago, I was refused. It was a real crash. I had to cancel tickets, hotels, and lose money for non-refundable bookings. Since then, of course, I’ve switched to traveling in Asia, but it’s still not the same. I want to walk along these cobbled streets, sit on my favorite verandas with a glass of wine and go shopping for brands that have left our country,” she concludes.

Источник