- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Andorra Enjoys Growing Inflow of Russian Tourists After 2014 Setback - Minister

© AP Photo / Kike CalvoSki resort in Andorra
Ski resort in Andorra - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Russian tourists started to trickle back to Andorra’s resorts in 2016-2017, following a sharp drop in 2014, when the Russian economy suffered a setback, Minister of Tourism of Andorra Francesc Camp told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Camp stated, citing the data from hotel bookings, that some 15,000 Russian tourists are expected to visit the country in 2017.

Andorra is a popular tourist destination in Europe famous for its high-profile ski resorts and festivals. Bordered by Spain and France, the tiny nation with the population of only 70,000 is visited by millions of tourists annually.

He underlined that the ministry would continue to invest in the Russian market and to work with the biggest Russian tour operators seeking to attract more tourists from the country next year.

"We are very good positioned because we have a very good balance between price and quality and this is what Russian tourists are looking for after the financial setback in 2014," the minister explained.

The Russian economy suffered a downturn in 2014, when the ruble lost about half of its value against the US dollar amid low global oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. 

After that, the tourist inflow to Andorra decreased by 50 percent due to the economic crisis in 2014, according to Camp.

In 2017, the Russian economy began its slow recovery. In September, the Research and Forecasting Department of the Central Bank of Russia improved the forecast for GDP growth in 2017 to 2 percent from 1.5-1.6 percent. Fitch, a major global credit rating agency, earlier in October also revised its 2017 GDP growth forecast for Russia from 1.6 up to 2 percent.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала