Authorities in Russia and China have renewed the agreement on visa-free group tours, suspended previously due to the Coronavirus situation.
The decision was confirmed by Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development, VisaGuide.World reports.
“The agreement between Russia and China on visa-free group tourist trips, suspended due to the pandemic, has resumed its effect,” the statement notes, according to the Teller report.
The new agreement means that organized tourists in groups of five to 50 people are eligible to travel to their neighbouring country without being obliged to apply for a visa at first and stay there for a period of up to 15 days.
The document was officially signed by both countries’ governments in February 2000.
“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China should soon address the Ministry of Economic Development with a list of Chinese travel companies that plan to send group tours to Russia,” representatives of the ministry pointed out, stressing that later these documents will be addressed to the authorities in charge for protecting the border.
Chinese Ambassador to Russia, Zhang Hanhui, said that his country is also planning to increase the number of flights to Russia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led authorities in countries worldwide to impose sanctions, with EU countries’ sanctions considered the harshest in recent years.
The invasion of Ukraine also pushed authorities in a large number of countries to close their airspace to Russian flights, contributing to a more devastating situation in addition to the negative impact of travel bans and restrictions imposed as a response to the spread of the Coronavirus.
The tourism industry is among the most affected ones by the factors mentioned above. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) noted that international tourism to Russia saw a decrease of below 4 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
ATOR said that only 200,100 people traveled to Russia last year, or a decrease of 96.1 per cent from 5.1 million visitors who reached Russia in 2019.
Still, Russian officials are continuously attempting to bring to the country a large number of visitors and help the country’s tourism industry recuperate from the significant financial losses.
Recently, Russian officials said they plan to abolish visa requirements for arrivals from over 11 countries and further ease entry requirements for those arriving from some six other countries including those from India and Indonesia.
In January this year, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov, said his country is considering granting visa-free travel to nationals from several Arab and Latin countries.
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