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Russians plan to spend May holidays in Crimea and Kaliningrad, research shows

© Dmitry Feoktistov/TASS

MOSCOW, April 27. / TASS /. Every fifth Russian is planing a trip during the May holidays; the most popular destinations are Crimea, Sochi and Kaliningrad, according to the information made available to TASS by Sberbank Insurance and the analytical center of the travel service "Tutu.ru," on Tuesday.

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Crimea expects to see record number of tourists in 2021

"The most popular domestic route for flights from May 1 to May 10, now, as in 2019, is the Moscow - Simferopol route. In second place are flights from Moscow to Sochi, in third flights to Kaliningrad. In the Top 10 most popular Russian destinations for the May holidays also include flights from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody, Krasnodar, Anapa and Yekaterinburg, and from St. Petersburg to Sochi and Simferopol. Traditionally, the Top 10 includes flights in the direction Moscow - St. Petersburg," according to the research. Prices for airline tickets on the most popular destinations have remained almost unchanged compared to 2019. A ticket from Moscow to Simferopol cost buyers an average of 6,542 rubles ($ 87.19) per one-way flight , 4% more than two years ago. The average cost of a one-way flight to Sochi is 6350 rubles ($84.64), and has grown by 1%.

At the same time, among the most popular destinations, flights from Moscow to Anapa (-24%), Yekaterinburg (-22%), St. Petersburg (-18%) and Kaliningrad (-11%) decreased the most compared to pre-coronavirus times, the researchers say.

Only 5% of tourists are going to vacation abroad. Most of them book flights to neighboring countries - Armenia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Of the far abroad countries, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are the most popular holiday destinations. The study was prepared based on the data provided by Sberbank Insurance and Tutu.ru.

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