Türkiye has been the hottest holiday spot for Russians in 2022, according to a top tour operators association, driven mainly by the fact that their trips were hit by Western restrictions after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some 5.3 million Russians visited Türkiye this year, according to Maya Lomidze, the executive director of Russia’s Association of Tour Operators (ATOR).

Russian tourists have been one of the main drivers of the rebound in Türkiye’s tourism this year, in addition to a major leap in demand from Europe, spearheaded by Germany and the United Kingdom.

Russians’ trips abroad have been disrupted by flight restrictions by Western countries after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also emerged as one of the top destinations for Russian tourists, although lagged way behind Türkiye with a significantly lower figure of 1 million, Lomidze said at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

Another 850,000 to 900,000 Russians traveled to Egypt this year, while some 410,000 went to Thailand, she added.

For the New Year’s holidays, about 3 million Russians will travel inside the country and about 600,000 plan to go abroad, according to Lomidze.

Trips to Türkiye, Egypt, Thailand and the UAE have been the most popular for the break, with much lower demand for tours to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, she said.

Backed by demand from European countries, foreign arrivals in Türkiye jumped 44.64% from a year earlier to 2.55 million in November, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry data, sustaining a strong recovery after a 2020 slump owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Russian visitors topped the list among nations in November with 312,486 arrivals. They were followed by Bulgaria at 232,709 and Germany at 207,340, the data showed.

In the January-November period, the number of foreign visitors reached 42.16 million people, up 84.77% compared to the same period in 2021, matching pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

At 5.48 million, Germans topped the list, followed by nearly 4.95 million arrivals from Russia and 3.3 million arrivals from the United Kingdom, said the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Türkiye expects to end 2022 with 51.5 million tourists and $46 billion in revenues. Estimates had stood at 45 million arrivals and $35 billion in income at the beginning of the year.

It expects 60 million foreign visitors and $56 billion in revenues for 2023.