ST. PETERSBURG, December 8. /TASS/. The tourist traffic to St. Petersburg will amount to 9.4 mln trips as of the end of 2023, said member of the Expert Council of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry Yulia Kislova.

"We can state at present that the tourism industry of St. Petersburg is being recovering, and at a notable pace. According to preliminary data, the tourist traffic to St. Petersburg as of the end of this year will be about 9.4 mln tourist trips, which is 16% above the past year of 2022," she said.

The share of foreign tourists visiting St. Petersburg has increased, although it is not as significant as it was in 2019 and will not be above 6% of the total tourist flow, the expert noted. Foreign tourist trips will be 574,000 as of the end of this year, up 68% in annual terms, she stressed.

The inbound traffic from CIS countries surged by 65% and from non-CIS countries - by more than 71%. China, Iran, Turkey, India, and the UAE are among leaders of arrivals in St. Petersburg this year, Kislova said.