Chinese travelers ranked first among visitors to the country during the first nine months of the year
© Getty Images / Konstantin Kokoshkin
Tourists from China topped the list of foreigners visiting Russia in the first nine months of 2023, business daily RBK reports, citing data from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
According to the statistics, 429,100 foreign tourists crossed the Russian border in January-September, with Chinese citizens accounting for 105,800 of the total.
The figure marks a dramatic surge compared to the same period last year, when only 563 travelers from China visited Russia due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions introduced throughout most of the world.
China was Russia’s largest source of tourists from the early 2000s until the beginning of the pandemic, thanks to a visa-free regime for tourist groups which was suspended due to the pandemic. Visitors from China have also topped the ranking of spenders on tourism-related activities among foreigners traveling to Russia.
The resumption of the program, as well as the launch of an e-visa service between the two countries, contributed to the growth of tourism from China to Russia during the first nine months of 2023.
READ MORE: Sharp rise in EU citizens seeking Russian visas – ministry
More than half of the foreigners who visited Russia with an e-visa are Chinese, according to the chairman of the World without Borders Association, Aleksandr Lvov.
The overall number of foreign tourists that visited Russia during the first nine months of the year registered a threefold year-on-year increase thanks to the lifting of the pandemic-related restrictions.
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