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Indian tourism minister welcomes proposal on visa-free entry for Russian tourist groups

Joseph Alphons Kannanthanam recalled that that his ministry is actively promoting tourism to Russia as India is hugely interested in it

© AP Photo /Manish Swarup

NEW-DELHI, December 6. /TASS/. Indian minister of tourism Joseph Alphons Kannanthanam welcomes Russia’s proposal to grant its organized tourist groups a visa-free entry to India.

In an interview with TASS the official said that granting a visa-free entry to Russian tourist is a good idea but in turn Moscow should do the same for the groups of Indian tourist groups visiting Russia.

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"I think it is a very good idea but as I said earlier it should be on a bilateral basis. If the Russian government allows Indian tourists to come to Russia on similar terms, we would be happy to allow that (a visa-free entry - TASS)," the minister said.

The official stressed that that his ministry is actively promoting tourism to Russia. "We have just opened office in Moscow. We are hugely interested in the Russian market. I was told that when we put out six new promotional (videos) on social media, the biggest response came from Russia. We had more than 200 mln views in three months," the minister said.

"We would like you in turn to launch more campaigns in India so that many more Indians will go (to Russia)," he added.

A couple of years ago, Russia proposed introducing a visa-free regime with India for organized tourist groups. The Indian side has not yet responded to such a proposal.

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