According to the results of the first quarter of 2011 the total number of the foreigners who visited Russia with the tourist purposes increased by 5.3% in comparison with the first quarter of 2010 (-20% in comparison with 2008), announces ATOR Analytical Service. The experts explain such slow rates of the growth by the different collapses in other countries, visa difficulties and the high prices in Russia as a travel destination.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the total number of the foreign visitors during the first quarter of 2011 amounted to 196.4 thousand people (187 thousand people in 2010).

The leader in number of the tourists in the first quarter of 2011 became the Chinese market (23.5 thousand people). The Chinese increased their tourist flow to Russia more than in two times, leaving behind the German market. One of the reasons of the leading position of the Chinese was the visa difficulties between Russia and Germany. So, according to ATOR Analytical Service, the tourist flow of the Germans decreased almost by 20% in the first quarter of 2011 in comparison with 2010.

The 3rd place took Turkey. The tourist flow from Turkey to Russia has been increasing constantly for the last 2 years. More than 14 thousand tourists from Turkey visited Russia from January to March 2011 (10 thousand people in 2010). The visa abolition agreement between Russia and Turkey favours the increase of number of the Turkish tourists in Russia.

The 4th place took Italy (11.5 thousand people) with the growth of 9% in comparison with the first quarter of 2010. France closes the TOP 5 with the indicator of 10.3 thousand tourists (-16% in comparison with 2010).

The tourist flow from Finland has continued to fall. Less than 10 thousand citizens of Finland visited Russia in the first quarter of 2011. That was almost in two times less than in 2008. The Israeli market, quite the contrary, shows a positive dynamics. If to compare with the first quarter of 2008 the number of the tourists from Israel increased in more than two times and amounted to 9.4 thousand people and increased almost in one fourth if to compare with 2010.

Almost 8 thousand tourists from the United Kingdom and the same number from the United States of America visited Russia in the first quarter of 2011. The number of the tourists from South Korea increased by 10% (4.7 thousand people), the number of the tourists from Spain (3.8 thousand people) decreased by 16% in comparison with last year.

According to the estimates of the Russian market experts, the serious obstacle for the increasing of the number of the foreign tourists is the necessity of applying for the Russian visa.