309k Chinese Tourists Visited Russia during Last 9 Months
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309 thousand Chinese tourists have visited Russia during the last 9 months, 131 thousand (42%) of which traveled under the visa-free regime. This was announced by Alexander Radkov, the head of Russiatourism, at a meeting of the Moscow government’s Coordinating Council for Tourism.
According to Radkov, the tourist flow from China has dropped 18% this year, while the number of tourists entering Russia under the visa-free regime has grown 41%.
Last year, which was celebrated as the Year of Russia in China, the growth of incoming tourist flow was 46%.
Alexander Radkov identifies the main reasons holding back Chinese tourists as follows: high transit price, underdeveloped travel infrastructure, discrepancy between the cost and quality of hotels and shortage of qualified interpreters.
As for the Russian tourists who have visited China this year, their number amounted to 883 thousand, which is a 12% year-over-year drop. Radkov ascribes this to the fact that yuans fell in relation to rubles, which led to more expensive tour packages in the Russian currency.
The agreement on the visa-free group travel between Russia and China was signed by the countries in 2000. It covers groups of 5 to 50 people.
According to Radkov, Russiatourism has developed a computerized system for monitoring Chinese tourists traveling visa-free. Law-enforcement authorities can also access the system, which makes it possible to catch illegal immigrants.
Finally, he noted that all the controlling bodies report no problems with the entry and leave of Chinese tourists traveling visa-free, which is why this practice ought to be applied to other countries with high tourist flow and the possibility of illegal immigration.
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