Chances are when you put “romance”, “Russia” and “travel” in the same sentence, it’s likely to conjure visions of cold war intrigue and clandestine encounters.  In today’s politically charged environment these words can evoke stronger reactions, even flat-out controversy. But as much as we’d like to craft a clever click-baity title, amplify a viral meme or shill for a few predictable yucks, we’re not going there.  We keep it real at TripTuner, so let’s let the data tell it.

Our Taste Lab provides unique first-party data on nuanced traveler preferences collected across millions of inputs across our platform.  Last year, we shocked some by showing how South Koreans are the most relaxation-seeking travelers (not exactly what we’d associate with Gangnam style, but hey).  Now, just in time for Valentine’s Day we’re curious about which country is the most amorous when it comes to travel.  Care to guess?

Well, surprise!  Our data shows that of the 10 largest outbound tourism markets, Russians are searching for more romance than family travel options.  Wait…Russia?

DA! It makes TOTAL sense. Who can forget the adorable Boris and Natasha from Rocky & Bullwinkle?  The ended-too-early “next Hamilton” Broadway play Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, or the longing croons of the Red Army Choir singing Daft Punk’s Get Lucky?  Not to mention the dramatic aspirational travel words of a dying Captain Vasili Borodin in the Hunt for Red October?

OK I may have violated the previous pledge about the yucks.

Rounding out the top 10 in second place is…

#2 South Korea: we’ve seen how they’re relaxation-seeking.  If you’re going to chill, might as well be with your bae, right?

#3 is France, naturellement.

#4 Germany and  

#5 Italy.  That’s amore, no surprise there.

China, the UK and Canada come in #6, #7 and #8 respectively.  And then you have the US and Australia picking up the rear, focusing more on family trips.

Overall, it’s an interesting set of results and just another taste of what our partners get with TripTuner.  What type of traveler preference data would you like to see? Leave us a comment and we’ll consider it for our next report.

Until next time, stay tuned – and as much as like data, we don’t recommend mixing metrics with romance.  It’s like a martini without a good Russian vodka. Do svidaniya, darling!

image: dallin hassard