MOSCOW, September 5 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s federal tourism agency plans to open its offices in Turkey, Egypt and China, Rosturism spokesman Oleg Moseyev told Itar-Tass on Monday.
“We hope that by next summer following the government’s decision we will open our office in Antalya,” he said adding that Russia prepared all necessary documents.
In the first six months of 2011 over 30,000 Turkish tourists visited Russia as against 23,000 over the same period of 2010, the spokesman said.
Experts in the tourism sector noted that in 2010 a record high number of Russians visited Turkey – over 3.1 million. This year this number increased by 15-20 percent on the average.
The main task of the office “is to ensure security of Russian tourists, monitor information and promote Russia’s tourism potential abroad,” Moseyev said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its confidence that Rosturism’s office will help to resolve many issues related to the stay of Russian tourists abroad.
“The issue of ensuring security of Russian citizens in Turkey is one of the priority issues of the Russian-Turkish dialogue,” the ministry’s spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, said.
In 2012 Rosturism plans to open its offices in Egypt and China.
“The creation of our offices in those countries is evident,” he said. “Tourists from Egypt and China are actively visiting Russia. Those countries are very popular among our tourists as well,” Moseyev said.
The number of Russian tourists visiting Egypt last year exceeded 2 million, while the number of Russians visiting China over this period comprised almost 1.5 million.