Over the past year, Russian tourist spend on travel has risen 15%

Russians therefore lead the world in terms of growth rate, overtaking China and Southeast Asia (10%) and the USA (7%).

These figures were shared by Champa Magesh, Executive Vice President of Retail in Travel Channels and Managing Director of EMEA at travel tech company Amadeus, at a meeting of Amadeus partners on 4 December.

Amadeus predicts this global trend will intensify every year. According to Ms Magesh, most travellers are now millennials who are prepared to save on other areas of life to afford to go on a trip. They also prefer to spend money on new experiences rather than goods.

Ms Magesh also shared their profile of current tourists: they prefer to make their own choices, appreciate a personalised approach, are more demanding, and have little brand loyalty. They also increasingly book trips online, leading to the prediction that over 52% of all trips will be sold online by 2024.

By 2025, the number of tourists globally will rise to 1.4 billion people per year, which, according to Ms Magesh, is still relatively insignificant given the total global population.

“We see an enormous potential for the industry that can be used wisely. In 2017, tourists spent $1.7 trillion on travel, with at least half of this money being at the vacation spot. The Middle East and Africa are developing the fastest at 7%. In second place is Asia (6%), followed by Europe and the United States (3.5/4.5%),” summarised Magesh.

It’s worth noting that Russian tourists actively travel domestically as well as abroad. According to Rosstat, in 2018, Russian citizens spent almost 60bn roubles on domestic trips, a 14% y-o-y rise, while spending abroad rose 5% and amounted to 234bn roubles.

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Russian Tourist Spend Rises 15% In 2019, The Highest Rate Worlswide – Amadeus