MOSCOW, 25 May 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a study about the Russian summer plans.
Summer vacation: where and with who?
Changing geopolitical situation, sanctions and suspension of flights to a number of countries have not had a substantial impact on the Russian vacation plans: 37% of respondents are going to take time off work this summer (+6 p.p. compared to 2020). Two weeks is an optimal vacation length for 16% of respondents; one month, for 10%. A short week-long vacation or a long vacation (more than a month) are less preferable for Russians (6% and 5% respectively). Seventeen percent of Russians say it is enough for them to have weekends to recover.
Half of Russians will stay at home this summer (52%; –9 p.p. since 2020). Thirty-nine percent will spend their vacation in the countryside, at the dacha or at their garden plot (+5 p.p. over a year). Fourteen percent of Russians will visit another Russian city or rural area (a maximum since 2018). Moscow and St Petersburg/Leningrad oblast are the most attractive destinations for domestic tourism (10% and 15% respectively). Twelve percent of Russians plan to go to the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (7% in 2020); 9%, to the Crimea. Least popular destinations are foreign countries (any destination other than the former USSR countries) (7%) and other locations in the former USSR territory (except for the Baltic states) (3%).
Demand for travel agency services have steadily been at low levels in recent years: Russians prefer to arrange their trips by themselves (94%).
Every fifth respondent plans to go on vacation with one or two family members (19% and 21% respectively). Fifteen percent of respondents will spend their vacation in a company of four or five. Every tenth respondent will be on vacation in a company of five or more housemates (11%).
Domestic tourism: growth potential
Tourist trips across Russia are increasingly popular. Almost every second respondent has spent a vacation in a Russian region at least once over the recent five years (48%; +6 p.p. over a year): every third respondent has had multiple trips across Russia (33%); 15% traveled once across Russia. Those who show more interest in domestic tourism are Russians aged 18-34 (59% of those aged 18–24; 60% of those aged 25–34) and metropolitan residents (71%).
The Crimea is the main destination in Russia. A quarter of Russians would like to go there if they could (24%; 29% in 2021). Seventeen percent would travel to Krasnodar krai (they are often young respondents aged 25-34 (33%)). Other popular Russian destinations are Baikal (14%), Altai (13%), and Sochi (11%).
How much does it cost?
Respondents are making certain changes to their vacation strategies. The share of those who save up for their vacation is almost equal to the share of those who pay for their trip using their current income (37% and 36% respectively). Previously, Russians basically relied on their current funds (45% in 2018; 43% in 2019; 42% in 2020).
Vacation budget planning has changed despite a considerable growth in travel costs. Russians are going to spend an average of 45,089 rubles per each person this summer (a 13-point increase compared to 2021; 40,022 rubles in 2021).
The basic reason why Russians choose a staycation this summer is the lack of money (41%). Other, less popular, reasons are “because of work” or “no vacation” (15%), or “health reasons” (8%).
Tourist cashback program
Many Russians know about the opportunity to save up on traveling in Russia: 79% are somewhat aware of the Tourist cashback program offering a 20% refund for the Russian tours (+9 p.p. since 2020). The number of Russians who are aware of the program has doubled since the program was launched in 2020 (19% in 2020 vs 38% in 2022). However, only 2% of respondents have used the Tourist cashback program; 13% are going to do that this year.
VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted on May 7 and 8, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Are you going to rest only during the weekends (Saturday, Sunday) or to take an annual vacation? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents, calculated in % of total respondents) | |||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Only during weekends | 19 | 18 | 17 |
I will take a two-week vacation | 14 | 15 | 16 |
I will take a month off | 8 | 9 | 10 |
I will take a week of vacation | 3 | 6 | 6 |
I will take more than a month of vacation | 6 | 5 | 5 |
I don’t need any vacation to have a rest | - | 1 | 2 |
Don’t know | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Those who did not answer the question | 46 | 43 | 41 |
Where are you going to rest, to go on vacation this summer? (closed-ended question, any number of answers, % of total respondents) | |||||||||||||||||||
year | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22
|
At home | 59 | 59 | 52 | 57 | 55 | 53 | 55 | 56 | 48 | 45 | 46 | 40 | 45 | 47 | 45 | 44 | 61 | 52 | 52 |
At the dacha, garden plot | 20 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 26 | 35 | 29 | 34 | 26 | 31 | 34 | 39 |
Another city, rural area in Russia | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 |
Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (Sochi, Tuapse, Anapa, etc) | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 13 | 12 |
Crimea | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
Abroad (anywhere other than the former USSR) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 7 |
Other places within the former USSR (except for the Baltic states) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 |
Baltic states | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Don’t know | 8 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
You’ve said that you are going to vacation in another city, rural area in Russia. What city/location are you going to spend your vacation in? Several answers are possible (open-ended question, up to five answers, % of those who are going to rest in “another city or rural area in Russia”; answers that gained over 2%) | ||
| 2021 | 2022 |
Leningrad oblast / St Petersburg | 13 | 15 |
Moscow | 5 | 10 |
Altay Mountains | 3 | 6 |
Krasnodar / Krasnodar krai | 3 | 5 |
Sochi | 3 | 4 |
Kazan | 3 | 4 |
Tyumen | 2 | 4 |
Karelia | 2 | 4 |
Astrakhan oblast / Astrakhan | 1 | 3 |
Vladimir / Vladimir oblast | 2 | 3 |
Irkutsk / Irkutsk oblast | 2 | 3 |
Kaliningrad | 1 | 3 |
Rostov-on-Don / Rostov oblast | 1 | 3 |
Saratov oblast / Saratov | 1 | 3 |
Novosibirsk | 1 | 3 |
Khakassia | 0 | 3 |
Nizhny Novgorod | 3 | 2 |
Volgograd / Volgograd oblast | 3 | 2 |
Chelyabinsk / Chelyabinsk oblast | 3 | 2 |
Yaroslavl / Yaroslavl oblast | 2 | 2 |
Vladivistok | 2 | 2 |
Ryazan oblast / Ryazan | - | 2 |
Krasnoyarsk krai / Krasnoyarsk | 0 | 2 |
Dagestan | - | 2 |
Arkhangelsk oblast / Kotlas | 1 | 2 |
Samara oblast / Samara | 1 | 2 |
Pskov oblast / Pskov | 1 | 2 |
Tomsk | - | 2 |
Buryatiya / Ulan-Ude | 0 | 2 |
Kostroma oblast / Kostroma | 1 | 2 |
Voronezh / Voronezh oblast | 3 | 1 |
Yekaterinburg | 3 | 0 |
Anapa | 3 | - |
Gorno-Altaysk | 3 | - |
Barnaul | 2 | - |
Izhevsk | 2 | - |
Ishim | 2 | - |
Kogalym | 2 | - |
Yevpatoriya | 2 | - |
Other | - | 30 |
Don’t know | 9 | 5 |
Are you going to book a tour from a travel agency this year, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Yes | 4 | 5 | 5 |
No | 95 | 95 | 94 |
Don’t know | 1 | 0 | 1 |
How many persons among those you live with are going on vacation with you? (open-ended question, one answer, question was asked to those who are going to spend their vacation somewhere other than home) | |
| Total respondents |
1 | 19 |
2 | 21 |
3 | 15 |
4 | 15 |
5 | 5 |
6 | 3 |
7 | 1 |
8 | 1 |
10 | 1 |
11 | 0 |
13 | 0 |
15 | 0 |
20 | 0 |
30 | 0 |
No one | 5 |
I live alone | 7 |
Don’t know / refusal to answer | 7 |
Some Russians do not leave their home region during their vacation choosing a staycation. Others travel across Russia or abroad. Have you spent your vacation in other Russian regions over the recent five years? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||
| 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Yes, once | 12 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 15 |
Yes, twice or more | 23 | 28 | 28 | 31 | 29 | 33 |
No, never | 64 | 56 | 57 | 56 | 58 | 52 |
Don’t know | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What Russian regions would you like to rest in, if you had time and money? Several answers are possible (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of total respondents; answers that gained at least 2%) | ||
| 2021 | 2022 |
Crimea | 29 | 24 |
Krasnodar / Krasnodar krai | 17 | 17 |
Baikal | 15 | 14 |
Altai / Altai Mountains | 14 | 13 |
Sochi / Adler / Krasnaya Polyana | 13 | 11 |
St Petersburg / Leningrad oblast | 10 | 9 |
Karelia | 8 | 8 |
Caucasus / Mineralnye vody | 5 | 6 |
Kamchatka | 6 | 6 |
Far East | 6 | 4 |
Moscow / Moscow oblast | 5 | 4 |
Altai krai | 4 | 4 |
Kaliningrad / Kaliningrad oblast | 3 | 3 |
Black sea | 3 | 3 |
Urals | 3 | 2 |
Siberia | 3 | 2 |
Kazan / Tatarstan | 2 | 2 |
Dagestan | - | 2 |
Abkhazia | 2 | 2 |
Stavropol / Stavropol krai | 2 | 2 |
Golden Ring | 2 | 2 |
My home region / home | 2 | 2 |
Nowhere / none | 3 | 3 |
Other | 5 | 4 |
Don’t know | 4 | 8 |
How are you going to pay for your vacation trip? One answer (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who plan to spend a vacation somewhere other than home or dacha) | ||||||||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
I am saving up for my trip | 53 | 54 | 54 | 36 | 48 | 45 | 43 | 42 | 36 | 37 |
I use my current assets to pay for the trip; I will not do anything special | 16 | 18 | 12 | 21 | 22 | 26 | 22 | 22 | 30 | 36 |
I will use additional income (my bonus, side jobs, etc) | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
I will get a loan to pay for the trip | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
I won’t pay for the trip using my own money; it will be paid by my parents/ relatives/friends | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
I’m going to borrow money from relatives, friends | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
I will use money from selling valuable items/secutirites | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Other | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
Don’t know | 14 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 3 |
If you or any of your family members are going to have a rest this summer, how much are you going to spend for each family member? (open-ended question, one answer, based on the answers of those who plan their vacation somewhere other than home and specified the amount, average in rubles) | |
| Total respondents |
Those who specified the amount per family member | 47 |
Nothing | 2 |
No one in our family is going to take a vacation this summer | 23 |
Not decided yet; Don’t know | 28 |
If you or any of your family members are going to have a vacation this summer, how much per each family member are you going to spend? (open-ended question, one answer, based on the answers of those who plan their vacation somewhere other than home and specified the amount, average in rubles) | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Average sum (rub) | 27 220 | 27 636 | 30 651 | 32 810 | 33 653 | 39 806 | 44 205 | 43 333 | 49 500 | 40 022 | 45 089 |
Growth compared to the previous year (p.p.) |
| 2 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 18 | 11 | –2 | 14 | –19 | 13 |
If you are staying home and not going anywhere this summer, what is the reason why? (open-ended question, one answer, % of those who plan their vacation at home; answers that gained at least 2%) | ||||
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
No money / fall in income / financial problems | 53 | 36 | 40 | 41 |
I will have to work / no vacation | 12 | 6 | 14 | 15 |
Health reasons / ill / disabled | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
Home is better / I like being at home | 7* | 2 | 3 | 4 |
No desire | 7* | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Work from home / household chores / repairs / housework | 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Child / grandchildren / small children / child birth | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Garden plot / garden / livestock | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Unstable situation in the world, in the country/ special operation | - | - | - | 3 |
Personal/family reasons | 8 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
Busy / errands / no time | - | - | 4 | 2 |
Age | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Coronavirus / epidemic / self-isolation / everything is closed | - | 25 | 2 | - |
Border closure | - | 1 | 2 | - |
Disease of relatives | - | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Other | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Don’t know | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Do you know/have you heard that there is a tourist cashback program in Russia with a 20% refund of the Russian tour? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||
| 09.2020 | 04.2021 | 05.2022 |
I am well aware | 19 | 31 | 38 |
I heard something but do not know any details | 51 | 45 | 41 |
I hear about it for the first time | 30 | 24 | 21 |
* In 2020, the question was: Do you know/have you heard that Russia has launched a tourist cashback program this year offering a 20% cash back on travel expenses for tours in Russia?”
Have you used this program, have you booked a tour in Russia using this program, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who have heard about this program) | |||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Yes | 1 | 2 | 2 |
No | 99 | 97 | 98 |
Don’t know | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Are you going to use the Tourist cashback program this year? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2021 | 2022 |
Definitely yes | 2 | 2 |
Likely yes | 10 | 11 |
Likely no | 22 | 21 |
Definitely no | 63 | 62 |
I’ve used it; I’ve received my cashback | 0 | - |
Don’t know | 3 | 4 |