Russia has reportedly experienced a significant increase in the number of Chinese visitors, welcoming seven times more compared to the previous year. According to a the latest data from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), overall tourist traffic has tripled since the beginning of the year.
From January to September 2024, there were 13 million trips made by foreign nationals to Russia, representing an 11% increase from the same timeframe last year, as per data from the FSB border service. This marks an increase of 1.3 million trips compared to the previous year.
During this period, the number of tourist trips to Russia surged to 1.2 million, a substantial rise from 429,100 in the corresponding period of 2023, according to FSB statistics.
The data also indicates a rising interest among Chinese tourists, who accounted for 731,800 trips from January to September, nearly seven times the 105,800 trips recorded in the same period last year.
Analysts have observed that while there is an increasing interest among Chinese travelers to visit Russia, the numbers have not yet returned to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, when 1.2 million Chinese tourists traveled to Russia within a span of three quarters.
Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, China was the primary source of foreign tourists in Russia, with over 80% of these visitors traveling in groups under a visa-free arrangement.
The rise in tourist arrivals from China has been attributed to the easing of visa regulations and the introduction of online visa services, according to Intourist travel company. Presently, travelers from China represent 65% of the total international tourist traffic to Russia.
Due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there has been a significant reduction in flights between Russia and EU nations. Consequently, the Russian tourism sector has redirected its attention towards Asia and the Middle East.
Additionally, researchers have pointed out an increasing potential tourist interest in Russia from other regions, including Iran, Türkiye, the UAE, and India. Notably, there has been a nearly twelvefold increase in tourist arrivals from Saudi Arabia, with 39,100 visitors recorded in the first nine months of the year, compared to just 3,300 during the same timeframe last year.
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