How the American media increased the flow of tourists from the US to Russia

Statement: The number of tourists entering Russia from the United States increased by 2017% in the first three quarters of 25.

Verdict: According to the Federal Security Service, yes, it has indeed increased. The tourist flow from the United States to Russia has grown steadily since 2014.

Фото: Depositphotos

Anti-Russian propaganda has led to a sharp increase in tourists coming to Russia from the US in 2017, the head of Rostourism, Oleg Safonov, said Air force.

“They are told tall tales about what is happening in Russia, and people want to come and see with their own eyes,” Safonov said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

In recent years, the American media talk a lot about Russia. American intelligence services accused Moscow of interfering in the US presidential election. In addition, at the end of March, President Donald Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the country in response to the poisoning in Britain of the former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The blame for this attack, London laid on Russia. Official Moscow denies any involvement in the poisoning and in the attempt to intervene in the election process.

According to the FSB Border Service, the total number of foreign citizens entering Russia from January to September 2017 increased by 25% compared to the previous year. The total figure for the 12 months of 2017 is even slightly higher - 26%.

However, the number of tourists from the United States entering Russia - if all categories are taken into account, including business trips - increased by 18% during this time.

The growth of the corresponding indicators has been observed since 2015, that is, the flow of tourists began to recover within a year after the annexation of the Crimea and the beginning of the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine.

Then the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT) noted that tourists from Europe and the United States do not go to Russia because of the tense political situation.

The number of tourists is now higher than it was before the conflict, despite the US State Department advising Americans to avoid traveling to Russia due to the “terrorist threat and harassment.”

“US citizens in Russia are often victims of abuse, violence and extortion by officials and police,” says a warning on the agency’s official website, which also urges US citizens not to visit Crimea and the North Caucasus.

The UN World Tourism Organization has not yet published statistics on 2017 for the year on tourist flow from the United States to Russia. In the 2016 year, according to her data, the number of tourists increased, but only slightly, by 1%.

At the same time, after the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, the Russian Embassy in London on Twitter calls on the British to visit Russia.

As with the Americans, the number of Britons visiting Russia in 2017 also increased. However, not as noticeable as in the case of US citizens.

According to Russian official statistics, fewer tourists came to Britain from Russia in the 2015-2016 years before the outbreak of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The total number of British citizens visiting Russia since 2015 has grown slightly, staying at 190 thousands of visits.

According to Andrea Godfrey from a travel agency Regent Holidayswhich is responsible for the Russian direction, after poisoning in Salisbury, there has been a slight decrease in the number of orders.

Official Russian statistics for this period is not yet available.

It is also questionable how the political situation will affect the number of visitors to the World Cup, which Russia accepts this summer.

According to Godfrey, the number of orders at her company has increased compared to an absolute drop in 2015 due to the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing in the summer of 2014.

The Trans-Siberian Railway and St. Petersburg remain attractive destinations for the British and Americans, so even if the number of trips decreases this year, it will increase again next year, the expert believes.

"Anti-Russian propaganda"

It is difficult to say whether people are motivated by the political situation when they are going on vacation, but some representatives of the Russian tourism industry actually believe that the increasing attention of the American media towards Russia is attracting more and more Americans.

Pavel Rumyantsev, deputy director of the North-West regional branch of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, argues that any kind of advertising, even negative, is good for the Russian tourism industry. She does not scare tourists. On the contrary, they come here to understand modern Russia, says Rumyantsev.

“In the eyes of American tourists, there are two images of Russia: politically, the countries may be something of rivals and compete for power on the international stage, but ordinary Russian people are seen as friendly, hospitable and kind-hearted.”

Not the last role is played by the exchange rate. According to Rumyantsev, affordable prices for domestic transport and housing also contribute to the influx of tourists.

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