Russia and China have agreed to implement a visa-free group tourist exchange, allowing groups of tourists to visit each other's countries without visas starting from August 1. This agreement had been suspended due to the pandemic of a new coronavirus infection, but now it has been resumed.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) expects this visa-free exchange to significantly boost mutual tourist traffic, potentially increasing it two to three times. Before the pandemic, Russia used to receive about 1-1.4 million Chinese tourists annually. With the "visa-free" system in place, it is estimated that around 400,000 Chinese tourists will visit Russia this year. Visa-free group travel is seen as the easiest and most cost-effective way for tourists to travel.
Additionally, Russia and Iran are also planning to implement a similar agreement on visa-free group travel between their countries in 2023. This agreement was concluded on July 1, 2021, and allows citizens of both countries to visit the other without visas for tourist purposes in groups of up to 50 people for a maximum period of 15 days.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS