ST. PETERSBURG, December 5. /TASS/. Russia has entered the top 10 most favored tourist destinations for Chinese citizens in 2024, Director of the CSR Center for International Tourism Development Yulia Maksutova announced during the St. Petersburg International Tourism Forum "Travel Hub.Travel!"

"As a tourist destination, Russia has made it into the top 10 most popular destinations for Chinese travelers worldwide in 2024. This means that the strategy for promoting Russia has been successful," she said.

In 2024, the "Discover Russia" brand was developed to help promote Russian tourism products in foreign markets. Maksutova recalled that this year, CSR and Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development identified China, India, Iran, the UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia as priority countries for promotion. In August 2023, a mechanism for group visa-free tourist exchange between Russia and China was launched.

In the summer of 2024, Nikita Kondratiev, Director of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects of the Ministry of Economic Development, announced that the mutual tourist flow between Russia and China would recover to 50% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, reaching about 2 million trips. Specifically, the tourist flow from China to Russia will amount to about 1 million trips.