‘Foreign travelers hardly ever come to Yekaterinburg for sightseeing purposes, it’s mainly business that brings them here. Almost no one comes to relax or check out our historic landmarks,’ Yulia Pantileenko of Palma Tours Travel Agency said to UrBC.

‘Our hotels are actually overpriced: it will cost you less to stay in Saint Petersburg (which is extremely rich in places of interest),’ she said.

In the meantime, Russian Union of Travel Industry reports that the number of travelers from abroad might go down 10% this year. The disproportion between the tourist activity within and outside the country comes to $20 billion a year.