MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. About 3 million Russians traveled around the country during the New Year holidays, including more than 600,000 tourists, who went on vacation through tour operators, Vice-President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Sergey Romashkin said.

"Tour operators and travel agents sent more than 600,000 tourists on New Year’s trips around Russia. Of course, in general there were more vacationers on the market - from 2 to 3 million people," said Romashkin as quoted in the association.

According to ATOR, tourists made the most trips to Sochi (from 40% to 60% of New Year's sales). Other destinations in demand were St. Petersburg (4-11%), the Caucasus Mineralnye Vody (2-10%), Moscow (2-8%), the Moscow region (5-7%), ski resorts (4-8%), Veliky Ustyug, Crimea, Kazan, Kaliningrad, excursion tours along the Golden Ring, the Tyumen region.

The greatest increase in demand was noted for New Year's travel to Moscow. Sales of hotels and excursion tours to the capital increased by 40-46% compared to last year. According to experts, the cost of New Year's tours in different regions has increased from 5% to 20%, depending on the destination. The average duration of trip varied from three to eight days.