It means as much as GBP100 million could have been lost from the Russian economy in 2022 with tourists spending their money in Estonia and Latvia instead according to an analysis by luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises.

 Baltic Sea cruises with a stopover in Saint Petersburg have long been popular with British holidaymakers but operators are now choosing alternative itineraries for their cruise tours rather than taking tourists to Russia.

 Instead, they have added overnight stopovers in many Baltic ports with Tallin in Estonia and Riga in Latvia being the big winners. Thousands of UK tourists have visited these cities for the first time in 2022 aboard cruise ships. 

  Prior to the pandemic around 650,000 cruise ship tourists visited Tallinn each year with a similar number also stopping at Riga. Experts estimated that they were spending around GBP50 million in each country. 

 But over the past 12 months the experts from Panache Cruises believe those numbers have approximately doubled to 1.3m with spending in each destination estimated at around GBP100 million from cruise ship tourists alone. 

 If accurate, the analysis would mean around GBP100 million that would have been spent inside Russia has instead found its way into the coffers of neighbouring states. 

 The experts believe the trend could be long lasting as cruise ship operators report overwhelmingly positive feedback from their customers on the new destinations.