Tourist destinations around the world are taking a hit to their economies, with Russians staying at home due to war-related sanctionspossibly with long term effects on international tourism.
It comes like European countries with Russian borders say they can ban all Russian tourists.
The Russians were the seventh largest in the world spending tourists before the pandemic, splashing 36 billion US dollars annually.
from vietnam Nha Trangnicknamed “Little Russia”, attracted a large number of Russian tourists before the war. The resort has experienced a rapid post-pandemic recovery thanks to the come back Russian tourists in 2019. Russian tourists spent an average of $1,600 per stay in Vietnam, while the average foreigner visitors is 900 USD.
Upscale Vietnamese hotels, once popular with Russian tourists, are almost empty where have been sold. The tourist guide activity was also affected.
Nha Trang is not alone. In the resort town of Thailand phuket, shops and bazaars would normally be bustling with Russian tourists. Hotel companies remain uncertain about their future after many Russians canceled their holidays when Russian airlines suspended flights to Phuket in March 2022. While foreign arrivals accounted for 59% of arrivals at Phuket airport before the pandemic, this figure was 35% in the first half of 2022.
Today, resorts scattered around the world, from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt for Varadero in Cuba, all suffer economic blows with low hotel occupancyleading to job losses, bankruptcies and drop in income.
Missing visitors
Turkey attracted seven million Russian visitors in 2019 to tourist destinations such as the Mediterranean resort town of Antalya. It was popular with the Russians because of his beaches, all-inclusive tourist packages and easy-to-obtain tourist visas on arrival. The city saw more than 3.5 million Russian visitors in 2021.
With forecasts of less than 2 millions Russian tourists in 2022 and 3 billion US dollars for $4 billion drop in tourism revenues, the shift has led to job lossesjust as fuel and other prices rise.
It’s a economic blowas every tourist in Turkey generates about three temporary jobs and every dollar of tourism generates up to 2.50 USD in revenue for industries supply tourist resortsaccording to Al Jazeera.
Falling tourism receipts and hard currency put pressure on Turkey economy and its currency, because tourism represented 13% of GDP before the war and the pandemic.
Tourism issues
The EU already has suspended the visa facilitation agreement between the European Union and Russia, which made it relatively easy for Russians to obtain travel documents. Previous penalties included bans on EU and Russian airlines to and from Russia. They also limited Russian tourists to access to international credit abroad.
Lots of rich Russian tourists went to trips to Dubai. However, high-end boutiques in New York, London and Milan, as well as glitzy destinations like St. Moritz and Sölden and popular spa towns such as Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, the belongings of the wealthiest Russian visitors are missing.
On French French Rivieraluxury boutique hotels and expensive seafood restaurants experienced a decline in activity. They were unable to replace wealthy Russian tourists with enough travelers from counties such as Bahrain.
Smaller countries, which have received large numbers of Russian tourists as lockdowns eased, include Cyprus, the Maldives, the Seychelles and the Dominican Republic found their recovery from post-pandemic tourism short-lived. Cyprus, whose service industry, including tourism, accounts for more than 80% of the economy risks losing up to 2% of annual GDP if Russian and Ukrainian tourists do not return to the country.
Cuba saw 97.5% increase in Russian tourists in 2021, country says National Office of Statistics and Information. When this market collapsedCuba’s economic recovery plans have been hit. The Russians were expected to report 20% of visitors from Cuba in 2022, with far fewer tourists visiting the resort town of Varadero.
Find alternative visitors
Thai resorts hope for growth in Middle Eastern visitors and indians to help fill their hotels. Egypt is seeks to increase number of visitors from Latin America, Israel and Asia. Germans and others, including Iranians, are already replacing the Russians in Antalya. In Vietnam, efforts are being made to increase the number of visitors from Korea, Japan, Western Europe and Australia.
However, many destinations were unprepared for the shortage of Russian tourists and are unable to replace 30%-40% of their market with New travellers.
Now that Russian tourists are canceling their trips to the resorts of Crimea as it comes under fire from war in Ukraine, some destinations are hoping Russians will seek escape by transiting through Serbia, dubai and Qatar. Destinations such as Armenia, Vietnam and Turkey are also adopting the Russian payment system Mir to facilitate the payment of Russian tourists.
Efforts by destinations to replace Russian visitors will require considerable diversification, marketing and time, as tourists new markets look for different activities. While Vietnam hopes 5000000 tourists in 2022, this is far from the 18 million visitors they welcomed in 2019.
Even when the war is over, tourism is unlikely to return to normal. Many European countries might not want to host Russian tourists for some time.
It will be interesting to see if the signs written in Russian in the Egyptian seaside town of Sharm el-Sheikh or in Varadero in Cuba will remain or be replaced by Chinese or other languages during the next tourist seasons.
Michael O’Regan is a lecturer in international tourism management at Glasgow Caledonian University.
This article first appeared on The conversation.
