Want to know where the Russians headed last year? Below is a list of the top 10 most booked international destinations from the Russian source market during 2021, along with a comparison with previous years.

All figures make reference to bookings facilitated via the Aviasales metasearch engine – which is responsible for approximately 20% of all aviation bookings in Russia (including via the websites of the airlines).

A spokesperson for Aviasales comments:

“Who would have thought that – in a year in which recovery didn’t really happen – 2021 would be so different to 2020? In the Russian source market the major challenge has been not only the reduced number of overall bookings, but that – as this table shows – the most popular destinations kept evolving constantly.

“Just look at how the 2021 list of top 10 most booked international destinations doesn’t feature countries that were all in the top ten in 2019, such as Spain, Italy, Germany, China or France. This has meant that at Aviasales we have had to work hard in 2021 to ensure that the best value content was available to suit these fast-changing needs.

“What’s been the driving force behind these 2021 top destinations? COVID yes, but not in the way many might think. In fact, infection rates or even closed borders have not been the driving factor. Instead it has been the vaccine passport policies in place in many countries that don’t allow those vaccinated with Sputnik – i.e. almost all Russians – to enter.

“To a significant extent that explains the popularity of Turkey in 2020, taking an unprecedented share of 64% of all Russian bookings and the UAE seeing a near doubling. But in 2021 Turkey’s lead has been eaten away at significantly, falling to a still impressive 30.7%. That’s because in 2021 countries such as Georgia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Hungary all began to allow entry to those vaccinated with Sputnik.

“Our strong advice to destinations currently receiving much higher-than-average numbers of Russian visitors is to think hard about how they can provide these new visitors with a great value and memorable holiday experience so that they come back again, and again. We say this because despite their borders being essentially closed to Russians, traditional sun and beach destinations such as France, Spain and Italy still remain popular searches amongst Aviasales users in Russia.”