Agency sees Russia’s internal tourism rising 3–5 mln ppl in 2016

MOSCOW, Nov 30 (PRIME) -- Russia’s internal tourism will increase by 3–5 million people in 2016, the Federal Tourism Agency’s Head Oleg Safonov told reporters Monday.

“We forecast an increase of tourist flows in the range of 3–5 million people. I think that the this number can receive a good quality service. But it is evident that we still need to work to improve quality of tourism infrastructure in Russia,” he said.

“Turkey and Egypt are one of the most popular directions where our citizens liked to spend vacations, over 8 million people visited the countries a year. For more than 18 months the agency has recommended tour operators to start working on the internal market. Those who listened to our advice did not suffer any damage, we hope.”

Earlier on Monday, Russia banned sales of packages to Turkey and charter flights to the country after it had downed Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24. Previously, Russia ceased air flights to Egypt until reasons of an October 30 crash of the Russian plane over the Sinai Peninsula have been investigated.

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