Türkiye remains the top destination for Russians in the velvet season: protests are no obstacle for vacationers

The velvet season for vacations is beginning. A magical time when there are fewer vacationers at resorts due to the absence of families with schoolchildren, hotel prices are slightly lower, and the sun is no longer so active. Turkey remains the record-holder among foreign destinations for autumn vacations for Russians, which many refuse in the summer precisely because of the hellish heat. And even the protests that have intensified there these days have not scared off vacationers. What is the current situation with vacations in Turkey and where else have Russians gathered for autumn relaxation, we found out from travel industry experts.

...And although Muscovites are currently experiencing a dry and sunny Indian summer outside their window, many are used to prolonging it, so they usually plan their vacation in the fall in warmer places in our country or abroad.

Booking volumes for foreign destinations for the 2025 velvet season — from early September to late October — are significantly ahead of the same period last year. According to experts from the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI), the growth may be due to the good ruble exchange rate and concerns that it may change in the coming months. In addition, the popularity of travel in the autumn is facilitated by lower prices for air tickets and hotels compared to the high summer season and, of course, milder weather at popular resorts.

However, last night, from September 7 to 8, not very happy news came from the favorite foreign vacation spot of Russians in the velvet season - Turkey. In Istanbul, the opposition rebelled, dissatisfied with the current policy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. There were mass protests and in some places even serious clashes with the police. Local media reported that access to social networks and the most popular messengers was restricted in Istanbul.

As it happened before, despite the Turkish unrest, there are no cancellations of bookings, tour refunds or a decline in demand for Turkey among Russians. Tour operators have not received any such requests at the moment. This was reported in an interview with MK by the head of the press service of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) Artur Abdyukhanov.

According to him, Türkiye traditionally ranks first in the top countries where our compatriots go on holiday. About 6 million Russians visit Turkey per year: these are independent tourists, organized holidays, and business...

Commenting on the situation with protests in Turkey, Artur Abdyukhanov added that they do not affect recreation; “it is possible that restrictions on access to certain areas of the city will be introduced, but at the moment there are no large-scale bans.”

However, judging by Turkish publics, some Russians are still thinking about returning their tickets to Istanbul with arrival dates in the coming days. Those who doubt in the chats are reassured by those who are currently in the city: “I don’t see any problems for tourists. Everything is calm, everyone is walking around.” “There are rallies. Tourists are walking around calmly, everything is ok. In a few days, everything will return to normal,” assured the admin of the public “Turkey, Istanbul, Antalya.” Although, for example, Russian tourist Ekaterina, who is there, wrote on September 8: “There are a lot of riot police cars, and social networks were blocked yesterday late in the evening.”

By the way, in March the author of these lines herself found herself in Istanbul during the protests there related to the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, but we did not feel them at all. Once during our vacation we heard chanting demonstrators somewhere far from our hotel. By the way, the "actions of the dissatisfied" took place at night, without causing any inconvenience to tourists. After all, Türkiye is interested in them, and how...

And yet, most tourists will go on holiday to the Turkish coast. And the situation there is calm!

— The protests today are not large-scale, the rally took place near the opposition office in Istanbul and did not affect the city itself, — travel expert Vladimir Khotko, who lives in Alanya, told MK. — In Antalya, Alanya and other cities, no one knows anything about this. Today, a new school year began, everyone is busy with business. It is +30 degrees in Antalya, tourists and guests are on the beaches. They wrote that social networks allegedly did not work last night, but in fact, everything is working now. There is more panic, as always, in the Russian information space. I would note that in Turkey, the greatest resonance is now in Izmir, where a 16-year-old teenager, for an unknown reason, came to a police station and shot two police officers. And this resonance is greater than the opposition rallies.

...But it is clear that our vacationer does not live only in Turkey. Returning to the "velvet" trips, the top ten leaders of interest for Russians, according to "Sletat.ru", this year included: Turkey (42.1% of total sales), Egypt (15.8%), Russia (11.3%), UAE (7.8%), Abkhazia (5%), Thailand (4.7%), Vietnam (3.2%), China (2.6%), Maldives (1.8%), Tunisia (1.2%).

At the same time, the level of demand for tours with arrivals from the beginning of September to mid-October 2025 (that is, during the velvet season) is 10% higher than similar figures for the previous year.

We compared what happened with autumn trips of Russians in 2024. Then the top destinations included: in first place was still Turkey (40.7%), Russia (22.8%), Egypt (11.7%), Abkhazia (5.8%), UAE (5.7%), Thailand (5.3%), China (2.1%), Maldives (1.3%), Cuba (0.9%), Sri Lanka (0.5%). As you can see, Russia swapped places with Egypt this year, giving it an honorable second place. Thailand and Abkhazia slightly decreased compared to last year, but China and the Maldives grew in the number of trips of Russians.

According to data provided to MK by the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST), the average bill for tours compared to similar indicators a year earlier in the top five countries changed as follows: Turkey — increased by 0.5% (to 202,300 rubles); Egypt — decreased by 3% (to 182,450 rubles); Russia — decreased by 0.7% (to 96,450 rubles). In the UAE, the cost of an autumn vacation increased by an average of 2.2% (to 181,400 rubles), and in Abkhazia, the cost of a tour increased by 3.3% (to 99,000 rubles).

So, despite the rise in the price of holidays in Turkey, it still tops the list of places for Russians to spend their holidays.

Our compatriots actively travel in the fall and around their native country. The top 5 domestic destinations, based on the tickets sold by one of the RST members with visits during the velvet season of 2025, look like this: Krasnodar Krai (39.9% - share of the total volume of applications in Russia), Crimea (10%), Caucasian Mineral Waters (9.5%), Kaliningrad Oblast and St. Petersburg with equal indicators (6.8% each), the Republic of Dagestan (5.6%).