LONDON, Dec 5 — Moscow has become the most popular European destination for Chinese tourists, a study from CityMetric Intelligence shows.
Some 376,000 Chinese holidaymakers travelled to the Russian capital last year—almost four times that to London, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Moscow was ranked fourth among the most popular long-haul destinations for Chinese visitors worldwide, said CityMetric Intelligence, an arm of online data provider Timetric.
The most popular long-haul destination was New York which topped the list with 646,000 visitors in 2013.
Los Angeles was ranked second with 570,000 visitors followed by Sydney (387,000) and Melbourne (303,000).
Seoul was the most popular Asia-Pacific destination with more than four million visitors from China.
Bangkok and Singapore came in at second and third place with more than three million and two million travellers respectively.
At the same time, Russian tour operators reported an unprecedented slump in demand for New Year tours following depreciation of the Russian rouble.
“Tour operators need to offer tours at substantially lower prices in 2015 as Russian holiday makers are turning to cheaper itineraries,” they said. — Bernama
