MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma (lower house) passed the bill on a visa-free entry for foreign tourists holding the so-called Fan-IDs from the FIFA World Cup until the end of 2018 in the final third reading on Thursday.

After the final match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow on July 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that foreigners with Fan-IDs should be granted the right for a multiple entry into Russia throughout this year without obtaining the required visas. A respective bill was submitted later by leaders of all four Duma’s factions and its head Vyacheslav Volodin.

According to Chairman of State Duma’s Committee for Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs Mikhail Degtyarev, "around 80% of fans would like to return back to Russia, get familiar with the Russian culture, see the Russian hinterlands, nature, smaller towns." "We are speaking about one million of foreigners, which is a major increase in the tourist flow. They all are going to invest funds in the hospitality sector, which will be positive for the development of small and mid-sized businesses and the economy in general," he said.

Russia came up for this FIFA World Cup with an innovation, which is the so-called Fan-ID and it was required for all ticketholders. This innovation was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body. A Fan-ID holder was allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of the global football tournament. Fan-IDs were obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend matches of the 2018 World Cup tournament in Russia.