Indeed, New Year and mountain skiing programs sold like hot dogs at the beginning of the year, causing twice as many flights to French mountain spas than in the winter of 2002-2003.
"Mountaineers were not even scared away by the euro's growth rate-such tours are mainly bought by well-to-do people," says Anna Ochkova, the Congress-Tour commercial director.
The first six months of 2004 saw a stable increase in the number of Russian holiday-makers in Thailand, Bulgaria, Great Britain and Austria.
Visitors to Poland, who became scarce in 2003 because of visa introduction, somewhat grew in number in the first six months of 2004. This winter is likely to offer a certain upsurge as well, according to Andrzej Sierakowski of the Moscow office of the Polish Tourist Organisation. Poland has already jumped to the fourth place in the rating of the State Statistics Committee.
The tourist traffic to Finland keeps decreasing due to its being one of the most expensive countries in the euro zone. This is also true about Cyprus which has imposed visas in addition to its having become more expensive.
Meanwhile, the demand for Spain is expanding. The results of the year may show a 30 percent increase in Spanish sales in comparison with last year.
Turkey keeps the lead, with an upsurge in visitors from 310,000 to 505,000. Egypt, having already climbed to the second place in the State Statistics Committee rating, is also pressing ahead. Twice as many Russians have chosen that country for their vacations.
