Russians began to travel to Europe more often

Russians began to book more tours around Europe. Travel agencies told RBC that this year 20-25% more clients are interested in such trips than last year.

Most often, Russians receive visas to Italy, Spain and France, since these countries are “the most loyal to them,” said a representative of the travel agency. According to another interlocutor of the publication, the situation with submitting documents remains tense due to the fact that there are more people wishing to go to the EU than the consulates can serve.

Travel agencies told RBC that now you can sign up to apply for a Spanish visa only for May, and for an Italian visa - for June and July. It is almost impossible to get into the French visa center, the “Unified Visa Center” reported: due to the Olympic Games, which will be held this summer in Paris, the number of slots there has been reduced. At the same time, the VFS Global visa center told the publication that the number of slots has not changed, but you can now sign up to submit documents only through the call center.

The Russian Union of Travel Industry reported to the publication that demand for EU countries open to tourism has increased by 10-15% compared to last year. However, this is still 80-90% less than in 2019. In addition to Italy, Spain and France, experts also see interest in trips to Cyprus, Greece and Hungary. These countries issue single-entry visas for travel dates.

Tez Tour noted an increase in the number of bookings to European destinations by almost 25% year on year. In "Da-Tours" - by 20%. According to RBC's interlocutors from the Russian Express tour operator, almost half of tourists from Russia prefer to visit two or more EU countries in one trip. The most popular combinations are France - Italy, Spain - France, France - Italy - Switzerland and Germany - Austria.

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