Andalucía is working to lure back Russian visitors whose numbers dropped significantly as the rouble fell to half its value since last year.
Before that, Russians have proved to be big spenders. Their daily average of €165 was double that of other visitors.
But with harsher economic realities, Russian visitor numbers to Spain tailed off by 38%.
Andalucía is mounting a charm offensive to encourage them back. About 20 events in Russia have been planned by the Spanish local authorities. The Royal Andalucían equestrian school will visit Russia for the first time, performing in Red Square.
The region will also send representatives to trade and tourism fairs, gastronomy and healthy living.
Italy has also felt the pinch. In the first quarter of the year, the tourist dependent country witnessed a drop of 31% in Russian visitors, according to both the Russian statistics agency and Italy’s tourism board, which added that the key Russian tour operators cut the number of trips by 50%.
Italy, too, is going on the offensive. The country now has a Russian-language website to advertise its offerings and help Russians apply online for visas as well as pointing out low-cost flights and discounts.
For Russians, however, it will be more difficult to enter Schengen countries. From mid-September, all Russians will be obliged to submit their fingerprints to local authorities before they can get Schengen visas, a move which is likely to further reduce numbers applying.
At the same time, Russians went elsewhere this summer. Turkey, Egypt, Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria increased in popularity, and all are much less expensive than Spain or Italy. Aside from Greece and Cyprus, all have visa-free arrangements with Russia.
