SIMFEROPOL, November 18. /TASS/. The tourist flow to Russia from other countries has decreased by 95% this year compared to the pre-COVID period, Vice President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Dmitry Gorin told a forum on Thursday, adding that this year's decrease is only slightly lower than in 2020.

"We registered a 97% decline in foreign tourists’ trips to Russia last year. There has been no major change this year, it is still down by 95%," he said.

The reception of tourists from the UAE, India, Germany and some other countries recovered this summer, Gorin added. "Speaking about outbound tourism, we registered an 85% drop last year, this year’s decline has been much smaller, of course, by 60% on average. Some directions are recovering faster, such as Turkey, the UAE, Egypt, some other countries," he noted.

Executive Director of the Russian Association of Tour Operators Maya Lomidze said in September that she expected inbound tourism in the country to recover no earlier than in the second half of 2022, adding that the decrease compared to 2019 was more than by 50-70%.