Russia: U.S. leads World Cup flight bookings, Italy records lowest

Travellers from the United States (U.S.) are among those most gripped by World Cup fever in terms of flight bookings to Russia in spite of the fact that their team is not participating in the competition.
Bookings from the U.S. have gone up 66 per cent, data showed on Tuesday.
Less surprisingly, the biggest fall in bookings, a drop of 16 per cent, is from Italy, which failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in its history, travel technology company, Travelport, said.
Overall, flight bookings to Russia from the United States for travel during the tournament from June 14 to July 15 have risen to 136,503 in volume.
It was an increase of 34 per cent, according to Travelport’s analysis of data from the major global distribution systems (GDS).
Bookings from the United States are up by 13,654 in volume, an increase of 66 per cent.
Germany accounts for the largest growth in booking volumes of 16,213, an increase of 44 per cent.
“It’s great to see the World Cup is encouraging people to travel,” Travelport Chief Commercial Officer Stephen Shurrock said.
“German supporters are clearly feeling optimistic they can retain the title with the highest total number of fans travelling to watch their team.”
The U.S. interest is also backed up by separate data from ForwardKeys released last week.
The company analysed data from the GDS along with some airlines and tour operators but which looked at arrivals from June 4 to July 15.
According to that analysis, the United States is responsible for the greatest number of additional visitors to Russia.
However, ForwardKeys highlighted that the United States has a sizeable Latin American population, traditionally among the biggest soccer fans.
“This result may seem surprising because the USA has not qualified for the finals but interest in the spot has grown strongly since the 1994 World Cup when it was the host nation,” ForwardKeys said.