MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last month, Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) indicated that the country saw a recent resurgence of tourism as fears of terrorism drove away visitors from Turkey and North African states.
"Spanish companies have already started to offer to our compatriots the 'all inclusive' vacation system. I am sure that the [Russia-Spain] tourism cross-year [started in April] will only contribute to positive trends and increase the number of Russian and Spanish tourists who choose our countries for holidays," Kurochkina told RIA Novosti.
Due to the closure of such popular tourist destinations as Turkey and Egypt, Spain hopes to increase the tourist flow from Russia, she added.
"Despite the economically challenging year, in the first months of 2015 Spain became the fourth European direction country after Egypt, Turkey and Greece to be visited by the Russian tourists," she said.
Last year, resorts in Egypt and Turkey, which had been very popular with Russian, were restricted to the Russian public.
Russia suspended flights with Egypt after a Russian-operated Airbus A321 crashed on October 31 en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.
As for Ankara, Moscow's relations with it deteriorated following the November 24 incident, when a Russian Su-24 bomber was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter over Syria in response to an alleged violation of Turkish airspace by the Russian jet. The alleged violation was not confirmed by the military, but Ankara refused to apologize. As a result of the incident, resorts in Turkey were restricted to the Russian public, among other measures taken by the Russian government toward Ankara.
