BEIJING, August 1./TASS/. A test group of Chinese tourists may visit Russia as early as in the first days of August as part of the program of visa-free group tours, Alexander Folko, an expert from the Russian ‘World without Borders’ travel association told TASS.
"According to information from the China Tourism Association, an initial test launch is planned: a trial group will be formed in the People’s Republic of China," Folko said. "It will be sent, probably, in the first part of August to make sure that everything works - after which an influx of Chinese tourists will be launched," he went on to say.
In his opinion, an increase in the flow of vacationers in both directions should be expected in the foreseeable future. "The borders are ready on both the Russian and Chinese sides. This means that everything is kicking off: tourists from the Russian Federation are now already able to travel to China visa-free, the expert explained.
He noted that at this point, it is difficult to predict whether the flow of tourists from China to Russia will return to pre-pandemic levels. According to him, now "everything is all about the visas: they artificially limit the flow of tourists, which could be much higher."
Tourist trips increasing
On August 1, the Russian Federation launched its visa-free tourist exchange with China; and the parties are now beginning to exchange tourists in accordance with the relevant intergovernmental agreement. As Alexander Kurnosov, vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, said earlier, the bulk of tourists is expected to arrive in mid-August - early September.
Before the pandemic, about 1-1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Russia yearly. It is expected that due to the launch of "visa-free travel," the tourist flow from China to Russia in 2023 will amount to about 400,000 people.