ATOR: in 2021, foreign tourists visited Russia 24 times less than in 2019 
Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR ) Maya Lomidze said that foreign travelers suddenly got sick of visiting Russia after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. This information appeared on the organization's website.
According to her, from January to September 2021, foreigners came to the Russian Federation 8.8 million times, while there were no more than two percent of tourists, which is 24 times less than in the same period in 2019.
It is noted that Cuba became the leader of the inbound tourist flow in the first three quarters of this year, whose citizens crossed the Russian border 44.4 thousand times. “Tour operators call this unexpected leadership a statistical imprecision. Most likely, in fact, these visits were made for the purpose of transit, students or their relatives came, ”explained the head of the department.
Germany is in second place. For nine months, 25.9 thousand tourists from this country have visited the Russian Federation for tourist purposes. The three leaders are rounded out by the UAE. “According to the results of the three quarters of this year, the flow of tourists from this region reached the indicators of the same period of the pre-pandemic year of 2019 – 18 thousand visits,” the head of ATOR said.
Earlier in October, Lomidze spoke about a decrease in demand in domestic tourism by 30 percent … According to her, the downward trend in demand for domestic recreation began in the summer, and the adoption of new coronavirus measures in more than 30 subjects of the Federation also had a negative impact on the desire of Russians to travel in November.