Tourist flow from China to Russia may reach 2.5 mln people in 2024

About 2-2.5 million Chinese tourists can visit Russia in 2024, said Alexander Osaulenko, vice president of the Russian Tourist Industry Union (RST) told a press conference, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

"I think that we can easily receive and serve between 2 and 2.5 million Chinese tourists next year," he said.

The expert noted that in 2023, the mechanism for visa-free group tourist exchange between countries is being fine-tuned. So far, Chinese tourists are received mainly in the territories bordering China.

"I hope that in 2024 we will see them not only in the border regions of the Russian Federation - in Transbaikalia, in the Far East - but also on large scale in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, in the south of the Russian Federation," Osaulenko said.

As Executive Director of the Alliance of Travel Agencies (ATA) Natalia Osipova said during a press conference, introduction of visa-free travel for individual travelers from China could have a positive impact on the Chinese tourist flow. Currently, this regime is valid for groups of tourists from China.

Earlier, the press service of the Economic Development Ministry reported that the mutual tourist flow between Russia and China in 2023 will be about 500,000 people. In pre-Covid 2019, the mutual tourist flow reached 4 million people - approximately 2 million people on each side.

The first group of tourists from China arrived in Russia under a group visa-free exchange agreement on August 10, 2023. The document implies that tourists in a group of 5 to 50 people can visit the neighboring country without obtaining a visa and stay there for up to 15 days.