The number of guests from Russia sharply increased in the hotels of the Baltic States in March

In March, nine times more Russians stayed in hotels in Finland and Estonia than a year earlier. Recorded a sharp increase in the number of visitors from RUSSIA and Latvia.

In March 2022, the Baltic countries neighboring Russia recorded a sharp increase in the flow of Russian tourists compared to March 2021, follows from the statistics of Estonia, Latvia, and Finland analyzed by RBC. The statistics take into account those Russian citizens who stayed overnight in hotels and other official means of collective accommodation.

In Finland, according to local statistics, in March of this year, 3.9 thousand Russians stayed in hotels. Compared to March 2021, their number increased by 9.3 times: then it was 430 Russians. A sharp jump is also noticeable when comparing March 2022 with the February preceding it: then only 1.6 thousand Russians stayed in collective accommodation facilities (an increase of 2.7 times compared to February 2021).

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Almost the same increase in the number of guests from Russia - by 9.2 times - was also recorded by Estonian statistics: in March 2022, 5.9 thousand Russians stayed in local hotels against 639 people a year earlier. In February 2022, 4.7 thousand Russians visited Estonia, which is almost six times more than a year earlier.

Russia was among the top five countries whose citizens most often visited Latvia in the first quarter of 2022. Its central statistical bureau reported that in the first three months of this year, 6.1 thousand Russians stayed in local hotels, which is 2.5 times more than in the same period last year. Almost half of the Russians who came to Latvia - 2.7 thousand people - made the trip in March. In February there were 1.8 thousand of them, in January - 1.6 thousand, follows from the calculations of RBC.

Data on the tourist flow to Lithuania is available only for the first quarter of 2022 without distribution by individual months. According to the local National Tourism Agency, in January-March, Lithuania received 3.4 thousand Russians in its hotels, which is 2.5 times more than in the same period of 2021.

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What could be the reason for the growth?

In March last year, the entry of Russians into the EU, including the Baltic states, was subject to restrictions introduced back in 2020 to combat the CORONAVIRUS. The exceptions were, for example, private trips to visit relatives, entry for study, work, as well as trips of diplomats, medical personnel, transport and logistics workers. Also, Russians with Schengen visas could enter the territory of European countries closed to foreign tourists in transit through open EU states, such as Hungary and Greece.

From the autumn of 2021, the Baltic countries began to ease anti-COVID entry restrictions. In September 2021, Estonia allowed entry to citizens vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. In October last year, Finland partially resumed issuing Schengen visas to Russians (those who previously had a multiple-entry Schengen visa with a validity period of at least two years could receive them). In February 2022, Lithuania resumed issuing Schengen visas to Russians (it was assumed that it would be possible to enter on issued visas starting from March 31 if there is a negative PCR test or a certificate of vaccination with a vaccine recognized in Lithuania). But after Russia launched a military special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia suspended the issuance of visas to Russians.

There was no organized tourist flow from Russia to the Baltic countries in March 2022, says Maya Lomidze, executive DIRECTOR of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. The Russians who visited these countries planned trips on their own.

In late February - early March, a large number of IT industry workers left Russia, mainly to neighboring countries, Natalia Kasperskaya, president of the InfoWatch group and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, said earlier. However, the HEAD of the Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev reported, based on data from mobile operators on SIM cards, that after May 15, about 80% of Russians who left the country after the start of the military special operation returned back.

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In March 2022, there was indeed an outbreak of departures from Russia, but so far too little time has passed to assess how many people who gave in to the impulse and left the country will stay abroad for a long time, points out Olga Chudinovskikh, head of the laboratory of population economics and demography at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. A migrant, according to her, can be considered a person who has been outside his country of residence for more than a year. Most of those who left Russia in March traveled on tourist visas or to visa-free countries and stayed in hotels, so they could be included in tourism statistics.

“In order to stay in another country for a long time, you need a source of income and housing, it is too expensive to live in a hotel. In my opinion, most of those who went abroad, fearing the closure of the border or the imposition of martial law, after cooling down, will return to Russia and will make more meaningful plans for leaving, if they really decide to connect their lives with abroad, and not with Russia. , - says Chudinovskikh. In the Baltics, immigration statistics are kept on the basis of residence permits issued by countries, it will be possible to make the first estimates of how many Russians received them after February 24, 2022 in a few months, the expert adds.

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In which other countries there are more tourists from Russia

Georgia in March 2022 was visited by 22.5 thousand Russians - 4.8 times more than a year earlier (4.5 thousand), the local National Tourism Administration reported. But the tourist flow has not even reached the level it was before the pandemic: in March 2019, 32.9 thousand Russians visited Georgia. In April 2022, growth continued: this month, 33.5 thousand Russians have already been there, which is 3.9 times more than in April 2021.

In Serbia , according to the information of the local statistical office, in March 2022, more than 8 thousand Russians stayed in hotels and other means of collective accommodation. A year earlier, in March 2021, the flow from Russia was 2.4 times less: 3.3 thousand people.

Although the flow of Russians to Bulgaria in March 2022 increased 2.7 times year-on-year (5.2 thousand versus 1.9 thousand people), it fell by 44.7% compared to February 2022 (in that month, 9.4 thousand Russians arrived in Bulgaria). The reduction occurred due to the fact that the number of tourists decreased by 3.6 times, but the number of those who came to Bulgaria not for vacation or business, but for “other purposes” (this definition may include those who has real estate in Bulgaria).

According to the local Department of Tourism, 53 thousand Russians arrived in Dubai in March, which is 23% more than in March 2021.

To which countries did the flow from Russia fall?

Turkey , the most popular destination for Russians to travel abroad  , was missing tourists in March 2022. According to preliminary data from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 114.4 thousand Russians visited the country in March, which is almost 48% less than in the same month of 2021 (219.4 thousand).

In March, Russians fell out of the top five citizens of foreign countries who most often came to Cyprus . Back in February 2022, Russians accounted for 8% of the total foreign tourist flow to Cyprus, Russian citizens were third after the British and Greeks in terms of the number of vacationers on the island, Ukrainians had almost the same share - 7.9%. In March 2022, the place of Russians and Ukrainians in Cyprus was taken by tourists from Israel, Germany and Poland.