MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Camp stated, citing the data from hotel bookings, that some 15,000 Russian tourists are expected to visit the country in 2017.
Andorra is a popular tourist destination in Europe famous for its high-profile ski resorts and festivals. Bordered by Spain and France, the tiny nation with the population of only 70,000 is visited by millions of tourists annually.
Welcome to Soldeu, welcome to Andorra @ICAR2017Andorra
— SportHotelHermitage (@SportHotels) 18 октября 2017 г.
Benvinguts al nostre resort, benvinguts a #Andorra #ICAR2017 pic.twitter.com/Yx4cb1b3ez
He underlined that the ministry would continue to invest in the Russian market and to work with the biggest Russian tour operators seeking to attract more tourists from the country next year.
"We are very good positioned because we have a very good balance between price and quality and this is what Russian tourists are looking for after the financial setback in 2014," the minister explained.
#ANDORRA is #nature: more than 90% of its territory are mountains, forests, rivers, lakes and meadows ⛰️☀️🌳
— Goldcar Rental (@Goldcar) 18 октября 2017 г.
➡️https://t.co/w0ep7TmrAL pic.twitter.com/r1U1Xtt7AG
The Russian economy suffered a downturn in 2014, when the ruble lost about half of its value against the US dollar amid low global oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
Gimzo keeping it smooth last season on one of our fave pow lines, dropping into Pas De La Casa. #skiing #snowboarding #grandvalira #andorra pic.twitter.com/ZDVTwX7DLC
— Choose Your Own Line (@chooseyrownline) 16 октября 2017 г.
After that, the tourist inflow to Andorra decreased by 50 percent due to the economic crisis in 2014, according to Camp.
In 2017, the Russian economy began its slow recovery. In September, the Research and Forecasting Department of the Central Bank of Russia improved the forecast for GDP growth in 2017 to 2 percent from 1.5-1.6 percent. Fitch, a major global credit rating agency, earlier in October also revised its 2017 GDP growth forecast for Russia from 1.6 up to 2 percent.