The European Union has banned travel arrangements to Russia

On October 23, 2025, the Official Journal of the European Union revealed a series of 19 sanctions targeting Russia. Perhaps most directly affecting everyday individuals is the sweeping ban that prevents European travel companies from organizing, selling or even promoting tours to Russia, whether they are individual or group tours.

The updated rules leave little room for interpretation: organizing a guided tour of St. Petersburg, announcing a weekend vacation in Moscow, Or providing a package deal to Kaliningrad that includes both transportation and accommodation is now against the law in Europe. Some member states have even gone a step further, officially “strongly advising” against any unnecessary travel to Russia.

Travel from Europe to Russia has decreased 10 times

The numbers speak for themselves. According to official data obtained from the FSB border guard service of Russia, only in the first six months of 2025, about 65,950 citizens of European countries entered Russia as tourists.

To provide some context, in the first six months of 2019 – considered the last “normal” year before the pandemic – the number was significantly higher, standing at 567,084.

This creates a reduction of approximately 90%, which is typically ten times less than European tourists.

Even when compared to pre-compressed figures from 2022-2024, the downward trend continues. The very few travelers who remain are primarily those with family ties, those with dual citizenship, or perhaps those willing to travel via Istanbul, Belgrade, or even Yerevan.

Heavy penalties: fines of up to €510,000 and imprisonment

The implementation is hardly symbolic, to be sure. In Bulgaria – one of the last countries in the EU where some agencies still openly advertise tours and travel to Russia – especially Moscow and Sochi, even during the war – the government has announced possible fines of up to 1 million leva (about 510,000 euros). Moreover, company directors can even face imprisonment in particularly serious cases.

Similar penalties are either being introduced or already in place in the Baltic states, Poland and Finland. For their part, insurance providers are systematically denying coverage for medical expenses or repatriation costs for travelers, ignoring their own government’s travel advisories for Russia.

End customers: uninformed and stubborn

Travel agencies still occasionally field inquiries to identify two specific types of customers: tourists who are simply unaware of the ongoing geopolitical situation and imagine that they can still casually spend a week on the Trans-Siberian Railroad “like they used to.”

A small part of seasoned travelers are fully aware of the difficulties (visa requirements through third countries, lack of direct flights, rejection of European bank cards) and are willing to pay a significant fee to an agency to organize complex trips through Turkey, Serbia, or the Emirates. These two groups have, by and large, been reduced to almost nothing.

Major Axis: Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, etc.

Faced with what is essentially a legal barrier to selling tours to Russia, many specialist agencies have simply shifted their focus. Places that offer comparable “post-Soviet exoticism” while remaining accessible, and most importantly, completely legal, are experiencing significant growth.

Georgia (including Tbilisi, Batumi and Sveneti) and Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek, Issyk-Kul, and Yurt accommodation) experienced an increase in bookings from European customers of around 80% in 2025 compared to 2024 when various major tour operators were surveyed.

Armenia, along with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is reaping the rewards of this trend.

End of an era

For three decades, from the fall of the Iron Curtain to February 2022, Russia has been an important destination for cultural and adventurous European tourism. The Hermitage Museum, Red Square, Lake Baikal, and the Trans-Siberian Railway were highlights of travel agency brochures.

Now, almost three and a half years after the Ukraine conflict, and nineteen packages of sanctions later, that season is undoubtedly over.

Even in the unlikely event that the war ends tomorrow, the infrastructure (direct flights, acceptance of EU bank cards, reliable business environment) will literally take years to rebuild. Opening connections wide (think visas, banking) makes a quick turnaround seem unlikely, doesn’t it? And those Europeans still dying to see matryoshkas and samovars? Well, they are now being transported as help to Tbilisi or Bishkek – cities that are experiencing unprecedented popularity with Western tourists these days.