Yerevan Fifth Most Popular City for Russian Tourists

YEREVAN (ARKA) — Armenia’s capital city Yerevan is the fifth most popular destination for Russian tourists in the former Soviet Union, according to online hotel reservation service Oktogo.ru.

Oktogo.ru service determines the most popular cities and resorts in the former Soviet Union, chosen by Russian tourists to spend their summer holidays.

The rating is based on hotel reservation data from August 1 to 31 made by tourists traveling without the help of travel agencies.

In August the top 10 of Oktogo.ru includes Minsk (Belarus), Tbilisi (Georgia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Kiev (Ukraine), Yerevan, Baku (Azerbaijan), Astana (Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Chisinau (Moldova) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

The cheapest city is Bishkek, where a Russian tourist spends 1,200 rubles per day on hotel accommodation and the most expensive is Baku (more than 6,000 rubles). In Minsk, the average price of a hotel room is 3,000 rubles; in Tbilisi it is 3,200 rubles and 3,100 rubles in Yerevan.

Russians who have their holidays in August spend on average 4 days while visiting former Soviet republics as tourists and 9 days when they choose a sanatorium to improve their health.

The top 5 most popular resorts among Russian tourists in summer are Batumi (Georgia), Gagra (Abkhazia), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Sukhumi (Abkhazia) and Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan). The cheapest of these destinations is Sukhumi where a hotel room is worth t 1,400 rubles a day.

Other most popular countries for Russian tourists outside the former Soviet Union are Thailand, Vietnam, and Cuba.

Oktogo.ru is an online service for hotel booking around the world, offering more than 500,000 hotels and apartments.