MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russians made more than 10.1 million tourism-related trips abroad in 2021, Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) told TASS.

"According to the ATOR’s analytical service, in 2021, the outbound flow from Russia to 32 foreign countries open to Russians, was completely, mainly or substantially for tourist purposes, Russians made 10,105,069 trips. This is almost half - 47.2% - of all foreign trips by Russians for any purpose in 2021," Lomidze said.

ATOR revealed that 46.5% of the total tourist flow to 32 open states was to Turkey. Russian tourists made 4.7 million trips to this country last year. Russians visited Abkhazia 1.5 million times (14.8% of the total tourist flow abroad), and Egypt 1 million (10.4%) times. In addition, tourists from Russia made 612,800 trips to the UAE, 560,700 trips to Cyprus, 235,200 visits to Greece, 222,400 trips to the Maldives, 179,000 trips to the Dominican Republic, 145,000 visits to Croatia and 144,200 to Cuba, the expert said.

"Few foreign countries managed to surpass their 2019 figures in 2021. Here the frontrunner turned out to be Tanzania which saw a 1,227% increase compared to 2019, and this is despite the fact that this destination was closed in April 2021 and never reopened. Of course, such amazing growth is attributed to the short-term effect of a low base and the lack of alternatives at that time," Executive Director of ATOR explained.

The number of journeys to Egypt from Russia more than quintupled in 2021 compared to 2019. However, before the pandemic, this destination was actually closed to mass tourism, Russians got there through Cairo or on connecting flights through third countries, the head of ATOR noted. The tourist flow to the Maldives in 2021 increased by 3.7 times, to the Seychelles - by 2.5 times, to Abkhazia - by 30%.

In total, according to the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia, in 2021, Russians made 21.4 million trips abroad for all purposes. This is 51.4% more than in 2020, but still 55.4% less than in 2019, the expert added.