The European countries are expected to lose approximately three million Russian tourists in the upcoming months, based on the number of seats scheduled on inbound flights between February and August 2022.
According to data published by Statista, the country that will lose the most Russian tourists is Turkey – provided that almost two million flight seats were scheduled for this specific time frame. Ukraine is listed second in the list, with a loss of 1.6 million seats anticipated, with Uzbekistan following, as over 800,000 Russian tourists won’t be showing up this year.
The list of countries to lose considerable Russian tourists are the United Arab Emirates (781,272), Tajikistan (726,899) and Armenia (563,199), while Germany is expected to host 552,910 fewer Russian visitors, making the country the most affected Member State in the European Union.
The second Member State to experience drops in Russian tourist arrivals will be Greece, as 303,843 seats designated for tourists will remain unfilled due to the situation.
However, the most affected country in the EU by the reduced Russian tourism remains Cyprus, as Russians made up the top source market for tourism, with the industry being the main contributor to the country’s GDP.
“Based on our estimates, we expected to have one million tourists from Ukraine and Russia this year, some 20-25 per cent of the tourist market of Cyprus. Τhe key is the duration of this crisis. If this ends in a month, we will come out unscathed. If it lasts more, no economy will manage to come out clean,” Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides had noted.
Such rates are even more devastating as the world is coming out of the pandemic, which left tourism severely damaged.
