ST.PETERSBURG, March 20. /TASS/. Russia will open its information tourist centers in Germany and China in May to demonstrate its tourist attractions, Deputy Head of the Federal Tourism Agency (Rosturism) Sergey Korneyev told journalists on Friday.
"Russia will open its tourist offices in Germany, China and Italy in 2015 with ten billion rubles earmarked to support each of them. Russia will also open partner offices in Helsinki and Dubai, where Rosturism will be represented by informational content only," Korneyev said. The partner office in Helsinki will be created on the basis of the St.Peterline shipping company, which provides ferry service between St.Petersburg, Finland, Sweden and Estonia. All these centers will function on an outsourcing basis, Korneyev said.
China and Germany accounted for the biggest number of tourists who visited Russia in 2014, he said. Germany is Russia's market in Europe with around 500,000 tourists visiting Russia every year. Last year the number of tourists from Germany dropped by almost 40% In 2015 tourism from Germany has been growing again, which is possibly connected with the falling rouble, Korneyev said.
Foreign tourism into Russia from European countries had declined 30% since the end of 2014 and until the beginning of 2015, while the number of tourists arriving in Russia from Asian countries had been 45-50% up, he said.