Lost income: how much will the departure of Russian tourists cost in Europe
During the last 10 years Russia was receipt by applying for a Schengen visa: in 2019, more than 4.1 million applications were submitted, 82% of the income from visas were issued as multiple entries. This indicator became one of the highest in the world, and the failure rate for Russians, on the contrary, was one of the lowest – only 1.5%. According to statistics, in the top 5 countries by the number of visas issued to Russians before the pandemic enter Finland, Spain, Italy, France and Greece.
On Monday, September 12, in force amulet European Union suspension decision conference on a simplified visa regime with Russia. The agreement has simplified the travel of Russians to the EU countries since 2007, with the signing of it, the visa fee was reduced, it became easier to obtain multiple visas and comply with the list of required documents for obtaining visas.
According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), representative offices of Estonia, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Estonia are already widely distributed among Russian citizens for issuing visas. Among the “loyal countries” of admission, which have not yet stopped accepting documents from Russians, went Hungary, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, as well as Cyprus with its national visa.
Where did you rest
By the pandemic, Russian tourists who were actively traveling around Europe were gradually increasing spending in these countries. According to the border service of the FSB of Russia, in 2019, out of 20 foreign countries popular with Russians (in terms of outbound tourist flow) It was from the Schengen area. The top three are Germany (1.42 million tourists), Italy (1.36 million tourists) and Spain (1.06 million tourists). to Greece then arrived 900,000 tourists from Russia, France and the Czech Republic received 600,000 each, Austria – 270,000, the Netherlands – 260,000, Switzerland – 250,000 outbound tourist flow from Russia. Among those interested, two countries can still be noted that have not yet joined the Schengen surveillance zone – Cyprus (800,000 tourists from Russia) and Bulgaria (400,000 people).
According to travel planning service OneTwoTrip provided by Forbes, in 2019 the share of bookings in the Schengen area is 32% of the total sales for all Australian countries. Italy ranked first among European countries (6.4% of all foreign orders), followed by Germany (5%), Spain (3.7%), the Czech Republic (3.4%) and France (3%). ).
At the end of 2019, more than half of all bookings were found on the Ostrovok.ru hotel booking resource in the country of the Schengen zone – 54% of all foreign bookings. Italy accounted for 11% of bookings, another 7% for Spain, 6% for Germany and France, and 4% for the Czech Republic.
Schengen visas make up the largest part of the applications in the Favorit travel company, which since 2011 has been specializing in issuing visas to the UK, the USA and the UK.
“Despite the fact that the Schengen area is our main destination, we continued to work in 2020 during the increase in the “closure” of countries and the “suspension” of visa issuance. I put the words in quotation marks, because in fact there was no Schengen closure, ”wrote Anastasia Semenova, CEO of the company, for Forbes.
According to her, their countries provided the possibility of obtaining a visa in exceptional cases, and lists of exceptions in each country. “This provided loopholes for obtaining a visa and entry into the Schengen area for those who needed it. Yes, issuing visas in such conditions is more dangerous, but there was demand, ”says Semenova. Under the current conditions, the situation will not be more difficult than in 2020, and even a little easier, she is sure, since not all EU countries adhere to the idea of a complete ban on the entry of Russians.
“We were a charter European tour operator, that is, all year round from Russian tourists to all specific Schengen countries: to Italy (in summer to Sicily and Rimini, in winter to Verona and the Alps), Spain, Bulgaria,” says Daria, a representative of the Intourist tour operator, Forbes . Domostroeva. “Also, there have always been reserves of places in the resorts of Austria and France.” According to her, much has changed after 2019: the tourist flow in Europe has fallen sharply over the past two years of the pandemic, so the denial of visas by a number of countries in 2022 is no longer such an important factor for business development. “Now, like all tour operators, we are refocusing on affordable destinations and, above all, on external tourism,” adds Domostroeva.
How much did you spend
For two years before the outbreak of covid that paralyzed the global tourism industry, Russia was one of the most dynamic countries in terms of the growth in spending by its citizens on outbound tourism. According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in 2018, the rates of Russians on foreign trips showed $34.5 billion, up 11.2% from a year earlier. In 2019 they way already $ 36 billion, Russia then ranked seventh in the world in terms of spending its citizens on foreign travel. The largest foreign tourist flow in 2019 was Chinese tourists at $277.3 billion, followed by US citizens at $144 billion and Germans at $94 billion. During the first year of the pandemic, Russians’ travel expenses stock up from $36 billion to $9.1 billion.
AT report The UNWTO, published in the spring of 2022, says that the “special operation”* “risks to prevent the return of confidence in global travel” and could see the loss of $14 billion in tourism revenue worldwide this year alone. In March, ATOR released a list of the strangest apps that had the biggest financial loss due to the attractiveness of Russian tourism: Hungary, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic (and also non-EU Cyprus).
According to the Spanish Financial Institute of Statistics (INE), the expenses of Russians in 2019 in coastal markets (mainly in Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and the Canary Islands) showed €1.36 billion. Their share is 2.8% of the €48.9 billion that foreign tourists travel to Spain in 2019.
Italy may lose about 1 billion euros from Russian tourists who are historical enter in the top three most solvent after the Chinese and Americans. The highest ratings of Italian destinations among Russians were Rimini – 15% of the tourist flow from Russia, Rome – 10% and Venice – 9%. According to preliminary estimates by the hotel association Federalberghi, by the end of 2022, only the Italian canteen may lose about 150 million euros due to the residence of Russians.
In 2021 Greece total reach pre-crisis levels in terms of the number of Russian tourists. Before the start of the pandemic in 2019, 600,000 Russians rested in this country. In 2013-2014, up to 1 million Russians a year vacationed in Greece, the cost of trips averaged about 1,000 euros per person. It turns out that in the best years for Russian tourists, Greece earns about 1 billion euros a year.
Cyprus, which has long been a frequent holiday destination for Russians and citizens of Ukraine, in 2022 will already lost €600 million. The main reason for this is the president of the residence of the Cyprus Hotel Association, Haris Loizides, the right to close his airspace to Russian aircraft. According to him, now hotel operators bring Russians to the island through Serbia, Georgia and Israel.
* According to the requirements of Roskomnadzor, in the production of materials for use in the production of Ukraine, all Russian media require the use of materials only from the original sources of the Russian Federation. We do not organize the publication of materials during which an operation is called an “attack”, an “invasion” or a “declaration of war”, unless it is a direct quote (Article 57 of the Federal Law on Mass Media). In case of violation of the requirements, the media may be fined 5 million rubles, and the blocking of the publication may also be continued.