Moscow more popular among tourists than Amsterdam and Madrid

More than 80 percent of foreign tourists, who visited Russia, do not want to visit the Russian capital again.

Participants of the conference "Moscow's Integration in the World Tourist Industry" said that Moscow has to accomplish a number of goals to attract foreign tourists. First and foremost, the city needs to reduce prices on essential services such as accommodation, food and transport. At the same time, Moscow needs to increase its own attractiveness, which still remains on a low level, conference members said.

However,  Moscow was a popular destination for foreign tourists in August of the current year,  news agencies report. The Russian capital was more popular than Amsterdam and Madrid, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said.

The information was received as a result of opinion polls and subsequently analyzed by SkyScanner online portal. The research said that Moscow received more search queries on the portal than Amsterdam, Madrid and Malaga.

The Russian Tourist Agency said that it was conducting a special research to find out which problems the image of Russia had. The research is being conducted with foreign tourists and businessmen who visit Russia on a regular basis. The organization will ask foreigners about their impressions of the country to find out what Russia needs to improve to become more attractive to foreigners.