A majority of Russians over New Year's neither traveled abroad nor vacationed within the country, according to Maya Lomidze, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
Travel abroad during the January holidays fell by 30 percent in comparison with the same period last year. Domestic tourism, however, grew by 6–10 percent on average for all Russian resorts, says Lomidze.
At the same time, vacation prices at Russia's most popular tourist locations rose by 15-17 percent this holiday period, says the executive director.
“These [price increases] turned out to be a major factor. Many people decided not go anywhere,” said Lomidze.
“For the first time, there was a situation where people did not have enough money to travel abroad or to vacation inside the country,” she said.
Representatives from the Russian tourism industry first issued warnings about the industry's critical state in the summer of 2014, after a series of tourist agencies went bankrupt. The bankruptcies included some of the largest operators in the industry.
In late autumn 2014, devaluation of the ruble accelerated. This is a major reason for the falling number of Russians vacationing abroad.
After the explosion of a Russian plane in Egypt last October, the Kremlin halted all inbound flights from Egypt. Then, in November, Russia introduced sanctions against Turkey, which banned the sale of Russian organized tours to Turkish resorts. The sanctions were imposed after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border. Before these events, Egypt and Turkey were among the most popular foreign destinations for Russians.
At the end of 2015, representatives from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said the number of tourist agencies in the outbound market fell by 70 percent in comparison with the previous year.
On January 13, 2016, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned of a potential repeat of the of the 1998 economic crisis.
The Russian government is preparing a budget adjustment for 2016. The current budget is set against a projected oil price of $50 a barrel. Brent crude is now trading at just over $30.