Ukraine heads list of CIS countries most visited by Russians in 2013

Ukraine has become the most popular CIS country, to which Russian citizens traveled in 2013, the Oktogo.ru online hotel booking service said on Tuesday.

Ukraine is followed by Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Uzbekistan in the popularity rating.

The top ten CIS cities among Russians in 2013 were Kyiv, Minsk, Odesa, Chisinau, Almaty, Baku, Lviv, Astana, Yerevan and Tashkent.

The Oktogo.ru rating was composed based on Russians' hotel bookings in CIS countries in 2013.

"The number of Russians' trips to CIS cities booked via the Internet more than doubled in 2013 year-on-year," head of the Travel.ru (Oktogo.ru) front office department Olga Favarizova said.

In 2013 Russians travelled to the CIS for three days on average and paid 3,400 rubles a day for the hotel, Favarizova said.

According to the information of Oktogo.ru, Ukraine accounts for 70% of all trips to the CIS, Belarus for 20%, Kazakhstan for 3%, Moldova for 2% and the remaining CIS countries for 1% or less.

Russian tourists, organizing their trips to Ukraine themselves, went to Ukraine for four days on average and paid about 3,100 rubles a day for the hotel.

ANN.Az