Trying to save money, fewer Russians visited vacation spots. Staying at home or going to dacha are top vacation preferences amidst crisis and international tensions.

MOSCOW, September 23, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing how Russians spent their summer; how much money they spent on their trips; whether they are satisfied with their vacations, and whether they had to change their vacation plans.

The share of those who had summer vacations is 55% (59% in 2015). Forty-five percent did not rest and did not take a holiday (53% of those aged 60 and more; 52% of rural area residents).

The share of those who spent their summer days at home has considerably increased compared to the previous year: from 13% to 20%. About half of holiday-makers (46%) went to their dachas. Every sixth (17%) visited Russian destinations.

According to the survey data, more than 10% of Russians managed to spend their vacations at the Black Sea coasts. Eleven percent visited Krasnodar krai resorts; 4% - Crimea. Seven percent of Russians travelled abroad including 5% of those who visited non-CIS countries and 2% - the former USSR countries.

This year vacation spending did not increase compared to the previous year, in contrast, it went down. A total of 36 026 rub. (vs 38 516 rub. in 2015) were spent per family member. However the real expenditures turned out to be higher than expected:  in May 2016 Russians planned to spend an average of 33 653 rub. for a trip. Those who spent more are residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (57 801 rub. which is twice as high as the sample average) and persons aged 25-44 (44  685 - 42 188 rub.).

The levels of satisfaction with summer vacation are higher among those who managed to travel somewhere rather than those who stayed home or at dachas:  82% versus 60%, respectively. The main reason behind dissatisfaction is inability to travel to dream destinations. Those who left home region also mention high prices and short term of trips among other factors.

Seventeen percent of Russians had to change their summer vacation plans mainly due to personal reasons (13%), problems with health (11%), or work (9%). Only 1% of Russians mention ban on trip to certain countries as reasons to change vacation plans. More than one-third of Russians (36%) spent their vacations the way they wanted.

As the Medialogia Company data analysis suggests, a total number of 1 664 publications devoted to the vacation topic were found in the federal media from June to August 2016. Top five most popular countries include Turkey (2 187 publications), Greece (1 404 publications), Egypt (1 163 publications), Italy (1 036 publications), and Spain (1 025 publications).

Please follow this link for further details about the study results

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on September 10-11, 2016; 1600 persons were surveyed in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. The sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over and stratified by sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage. The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

Russian media analysis is carried out by the Medialogia Company using the Medialogia media database involving 26800 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, news agencies and online media. The analysis took place June through August 2014 -2016 for vacation topic and June through August 2016 for the rating of countries.   

*Data on the question “If you or any of your family members are going to have summer vacations, how much money are you going to spend per one family member?” (open-ended question, one answer)

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory! Full or partial reproduction of the Medialogia Company materials in other media must contain a reference to the Medialogia Company.