Many experts believe that in the near future the tourism demand in Russia will inevitably focus mainly on two groups of countries, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said.
The first is those countries where the all-inclusive system in hotels is developed or prevails. Now among such countries open to Russians are Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, some hotels in the Maldives, some emirates and hotels in the United Arab Emirates, potentially (with the resumption of direct flights) also Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, as well as some hotels on Margarita Island in Venezuela.
The second group of countries, which in the short and medium term will be mainly focused given some concern of tour operators for Mir cards, are the countries where these cards are accepted.
There are only six countries where all or the vast majority of local retail outlets (which have terminals) and ATMs accept cards of the Russian payment system Mir. These are Belarus, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. There are only two truly mass destinations here - Belarus and Abkhazia. But the flow of tourists to Uzbekistan under the current circumstances could also become massive.
Outside this group of the post-Soviet countries, the widest network for accepting Mir cards is in Turkey. Here, the cards of the Russian payment system are still serviced by 3 large banks - these are the state-owned Vakıfbank, Ziraat Bankası banks and the private bank Iş Bankası.
