Former Olympic host city Sochi tops a rating of the most popular resorts in Russia among foreign holidaymakers, the TurStat tourism research agency reported on Wednesday.
Other hot spots on the Black Sea coast were Anapa and Gelendzhik, both coastal cities in the Krasnodar region.
Turstat also included Yalta in its top three ranking. The seaside resort is located in Crimea which was annexed by Russia in March 2014.
Two resorts on Siberia’s Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume, came in fifth and sixth place.
Most foreign tourists visiting the Black Sea come from Europe and former Soviet republics, while Baikal is popular among Chinese visitors in large part due to its geographical proximity.
About 900,000 foreign tourists visit the Krasnodar region and Crimea each year, while in the first six months of 2017 only 39,000 visitors reached remote Baikal, with more than half coming from China, TurStat said.
Yalta took the top spot as the most expensive resort in 2017, where one day of stay starts from 4,200 rubles ($70). The cheapest destination is Sevastopol, also in Crimea, at 3,200 rubles per day, TurStat said. It did not specify how the prices were calculated.
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