The number of visitors to gambling zones on the weekends of February 23 and March 8 doubled
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Attendance at casinos and gambling zones on the weekends of February 23 and March 8 increased this year by 2.2 times, the specialized association calculated. Market participants explain the increase in the number of guests by the distribution of holidays: visitors had two long weekend periods. At the same time, the internal tourist flow to the regions where gambling zones are located increased moderately, by 10–15%. Experts say it is being held back by increased travel abroad.
Casinos and gambling zones that are part of the Association of Operators of the Entertainment Industry and Gambling Business of Russia (AIRIS) were visited by 51.5 thousand people during the gender holidays in 2024, the organization told Kommersant. She kept count for six days in total: February 23–25 and March 8–10. The total number of visitors turned out to be 2.2 times more than during the same holidays in 2023 (22.8 thousand). Then it included five weekends and holidays, four of which were in a row (February 23–26).
The increase in attendance, according to representatives of the association, was facilitated by the “successful location of the March and February holidays,” as well as the general trend towards an increase in the number of guests during weekends and holidays. AIRIS calls the figure a record since 2019, but did not specify what exactly the attendance was before the pandemic. On the same holidays in 2020 and 2021, when they covered two periods of three non-working days, gambling zones were visited by 24.8 thousand and 20 thousand people, respectively. During the gender holidays in 2022, attendance dropped to 12 thousand people.
Previously, the association reported an increase in attendance outside the holiday period. Its representatives explained that casinos began to develop non-core events – concerts, business events, etc. (see “Kommersant” dated September 11, 2023). In 2023, in total, AIRIS participants attracted 1.46 million visitors (14% more than a year earlier), and the volume of tax deductions exceeded 2 billion rubles.
The association’s statistics were collected for the Krasnaya Polyana and Siberian Coin gambling zones, the Tigre de Cristal casino in the Primorye zone and the Sobranie casino in the Yantarnaya zone. A representative of another Yantannaya resident, the Magic Crystal slot machine hall, also notes an increase in attendance, but much less – by 6.6%, to 871 people: “The way the holidays fell this year increased the length of the weekend.” The Shambhala casino (Primorye zone) did not respond to Kommersant’s request.
The activity of tourist trips strongly depends on the length of the weekend, confirms Sergei Romashkin, vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. Thus, the length of the weekend on February 23 was reduced from four to three days, and as a result, the overall demand for travel, according to the expert, did not increase. At the same time, on March 8, Russians had three free days, while a year earlier it was only one day off in the middle of the week—as a result, the demand for weekend trips increased by 40% year on year.
Mr. Romashkin suggests that among gambling zones the main traffic is provided by Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi (according to AIRIS, it was visited by 19.2 thousand people, an increase of 39% year on year). As of March 8, the demand for trips to the Sochi mountain cluster increased by 10–12% year-on-year, Sergey Romashkin specified.
Vice-President of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry Dmitry Gorin notes that the total volume of domestic tourist flow in late February – early March increased by 10-30% depending on the destination. More pronounced dynamics were typical for Moscow and St. Petersburg, while regions with gambling zones (Krasnodar, Altai, Primorsky Territories and Kaliningrad Region) showed a rather moderate increase in the number of guests – by 10–15%. The expert claims that growing demand in the domestic market is now holding back the increase in the number of foreign trips.
General Director of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov explains the difference in the growth rate of attendance at gambling zones and the overall tourist flow by the fact that they are “only one of the drivers”, mainly provided by trips of citizens from other regions of Russia.
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