Russians flock to travel agencies to escape Covid-19 restrictions
Passers-by in Red Square, Moscow, October 9, 2021 © Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Russian authorities have declared a week off with new restrictions to fight the coronavirus.
As a result, many of them go on vacation to the regions and for the better-off, they rush on vacation abroad.
The demand for sunny destinations has exploded.
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With our correspondent in Moscow,
Anissa El Jabri
From home restrictions and open borders, the equation for well-off Russians has one solution: escape out of the country.
Since the announcements of
restrictions
last week, in travel agencies we no longer know where to turn.
There is a strong interest in the United Arab Emirates, the demand for stays in Egypt has increased by 30%.
As for sales for Turkey or the Maldives, they have quite simply doubled.
“
Demand had already started to pick up a few weeks ago, when the regions, one by one, started to introduce restrictions,”
says Maya Loimidze, executive director of the association of Russian tour operators Ator.
But with the announcement of tougher measures mid-last week, literally every day, especially Thursday and Friday, demand peaked.
"
Logically, prices followed: over 10%, but not enough to stop the rush abroad.
“
This trend will continue at a minimum, until the end of the week and probably until the first days of November,”
continues Maya Loimidze.
And such strong demand can still be sustained for a long time if the restrictions put in place in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities are further extended.
"
Several hypotheses are on the table today.
One of them is considering a shutdown of non-essential services extended until January 1.
Going back on the opening of borders is, for the moment in any case, not an option on the table.
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To read also: Covid-19 in Russia: the Kremlin points to the "fault" of the Russians in the increase in cases
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