At the same time, the number of foreign tourists coming to Russia in the same period has remained virtually unchanged, declining —0.76 percent from 257,280 to 255,324 people between 2014 and 2015.
The statistics are no surprise to Rosstat, which has been observing a shift toward domestic tourism over the past year-and-a-half, accounted for by the falling purchasing power of the ruble, sanctions, and a surge in patriotism which has come as a result of the crisis in Ukraine and worsening relations with many Western countries.
Recently commenting on the shifting dynamic from tourism abroad to tourism domestically in a report to the Russian government, Rosstat head Oleg Safonov noted that at the same time as tourism abroad has declined, internal tourism has grown by over 30 percent, to 41 million people a year, in 2014, compared with 2013.