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The Mayor of Calella, Montserrat Candini, has headed the Calella Town Hall delegation that has attended the MITT international tourism fair, held in Moscow from March 13 to 15. With more than 23,000 visitors and 2,000 participating companies from all over the world, MITT is the largest and most important travel fair in Russia.

As highlighted by the Mayor of Calella, Montserrat Candini, "the MITT trade fair in Moscow is a worldwide benchmark in the field of tourism, and every year there is more specialization even in regard to the tour operators, and therefore, there is much more good understanding, between Russia, Moscow and Catalonia."

This year, the Catalan Tourism Agency has participated in the MITT with a very special novelty: the 25th anniversary of the Tourist Promotion Office of Catalonia in the Eastern Countries. It should be noted that this office has 14 reference markets, from Armenia to Uzbekistan, and the Russian Federation is the market where it concentrates its main promotional efforts for demographic, territorial, and historical reasons and for being the first market in volume of tourism to Catalonia from the former space of the Soviet Union.

During the fair, the Tourism area of Calella was able to hold professional meetings with a total of 20 tour operators and travel agencies, among which were some of the most important tour operators in Russia, such as Anex Tour, Tez Tour, TUI Russia and Biblio-Globo. Information corresponding to Calella as Sports Tourism Destination has also been presented to the representatives of the Department of Sports and Tourism of the Moscow City Hall.

Catalonia is the main destination for Russian tourists traveling to Spain

According to data from the Catalan Tourism Agency, Catalonia is still the preferred destination for Russian tourists visiting Spain. More than 60% of Russians who travel to Spain to spend their holidays choose Catalonia and many of them return repeatedly.

After the strong fall suffered by the Russian market between 2014 and 2015, due to several political and economic factors, the market shows signs of recovery since 2016. During 2017, almost 700,000 Russian tourists arrived in Catalonia, 24.4% more than in 2016. Russia represented 3.7% of the issuing markets that Catalonia received last year.

Regarding Calella, Russian tourism registered a 30.69% increase in the number of overnight stays during 2017 (257.463) compared to 2016 (196.995). Currently, the Russian market ranks third in the ranking of nationalities of tourists who visit us.

Traditionally, Russia has been a market mostly controlled by tour operators, but currently 57.2% of travelers visiting Catalonia do so without a tourist package. After French, British and German, the Russian market generates the largest expenditure in Catalonia with a share of 5.8% of the total expenditure of foreign tourists during 2017. The average expenditure per Russian tourist stands at 1,549, 9 euros and the average daily cost, at 170.8 euros.

It is a tourist who mostly concentrates holidays during the summer months (62%). Most arrive through airports (96.1%) and visit Catalonia for leisure, free time and holidays (94.9%). For the Russian tourist are important sun and family beach, cultural wellness, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) and shopping.

On the other hand, visits to the website calellabarcelona.com from Russia have grown by 26% over the previous year. Regarding the demographic data of the visits, the origin is located mainly in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. In relation to the contents most visited by Russian users, they include: how to get there, activities (things to do), gastronomy, sports tourism and shopping.