March 3, 2015. Tour operators report the demand for foreign travel is on the decrease in Russia. Online searches for trips to various countries dropped by 35%, on average, compared with January 2014, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to the Association of Russian Tour Operators as saying.

In January 2015, Russian citizens made 2.5m online enquires related to trips abroad; this was 35% less than a year earlier and 28% less than in December 2014. The demand sagged the most for destinations in Europe: these failed to compete with the inexpensive mass-market holiday places, of which Egypt remains the most popular.

The Association carried a rating of the most popular countries in January 2015 (based on online searches). Egypt, Thailand, and Turkey are the top three, followed by Vietnam, China, Goa, Finland, Italy, India, and Russia.

As for domestic travel, trips around the Golden Ring seem to be the growing in popularity the fastest. Saint Petersburg is the top most searched city, followed by Moscow.