Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) Yuri Barzykin said that, on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Russian Union of Travel Industry is holding a number of strategic sessions on various types of tourism.
“Representatives of St. Petersburg in our discussion proposed introducing a generally visa-free regime for China. This is formalized in the form of recommendations and will be sent to all interested ministries and departments. The proposal will be sent to the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In principle, I think this is quite feasible,” says the specialist.
According to the vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) for outbound tourism, Artur Muradyan, Chinese tourists dominated among the guests of our country last year.
“We must understand that the total number of tourists is around 700 thousand. Of these, about 200 thousand are visits from Chinese tourists. You need to understand that the priorities for Chinese tourists are Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Baikal region and the Far East. Accordingly, this is the Khabarovsk Territory,” said Muradyan.
He is confident that Chinese tourists will become the dominant branch of inbound tourism in 2024.
“Just the extension of group visa-free tourism, which is to some extent more relevant for Chinese tourists, since they travel in a more organized manner than our domestic tourists. With all this, of course, lifting visa restrictions could significantly increase flows. Another thing is that I would like this measure to be mirrored, so that China would also cancel visas for Russians,” concluded RT’s interlocutor.
Earlier, the director of the Association “Association of Tour Operators in the Sphere of Outbound Tourism “Turpomosch”” Alexander Osaulenko said that the issuance of payment cards for foreign tourists will be convenient primarily for organized tourists.