Thailand a top destination for Russians this year

Thailand will continue to be among the favourite places for tourists from Russia for their summer holidays, according to the Russian Federal Tourism Agency.

The agency has put a series of questions to Russians planning holidays for the summer and Thailand emerged as one of their top 10 destinations, the sibnovosti.ru news website reported.

Other popular destinations for Russians are Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Spain, Vietnam, Montenegro, Italy and local resorts in Russia, it added.

Thailand entices more visitors from Russia. Pattaya and Phuket are their favourite places to visit.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in Saint Petersburg during his visit to Russia on May 13 that foreign tourists going to Thailand would be safe and the country had the facilities to accommodate them.

Only 884,000 Russians came to Thailand last year, a sharp drop from 1.6 million in 2014, the Tourism Department of Thailand said. The fall was due to the oil price plunge and the declining value of the rouble.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand forecast this month that Russian arrivals could bounce back to reach 1 million this year after a recent surge in oil prices.

The drop in Russian tourists led to the decision of Thai Airways International to terminate flights between Bangkok and Moscow last year. But the airline plans to renew the route in October.