In a bid to boost tourism in a significant manner, Russia is formulating a mutual visa-free travel exchange with India. This was stated by the head of the Federal Tourism Agency, Oleg Safonov, on the Eastern Economic Forum, which was held in Vladivostok on September 2-3, 2016.
“We offer the same mechanism as we offer to China similar to the agreement with India and Iran. It is really a good mechanism, which has proved to be effective,” the head of the Federal Tourism Agency, Oleg Safonov, said.
Agreement between the governments of Russia and China on visa-free tourist travel in the framework of organized groups (via travel agency) was signed in 2000.
On the feasibility of such a solution, Oleg Safonov said on the eve of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will be held in Vladivostok on September 2-3. He noted that 16 years ago an agreement was signed between the governments of Russia and China on visa-free group tourist trips, which fully proved its effectiveness.
Positive experience speaks in favor of extending the mechanism of group visa-free travel to the country, promising in terms of increasing tourist arrivals in Russia. We propose to implement the same mechansim as we had with China with our startegic in-boumd tourism partners namely India, Iran and Vietnam”, said Safonov.
Today, China is the leading nation from where the number of tourists visiting the Russian Federation is the highest. Over the last five years of the entry flow of tourists from China grew more than 4.5 times, and for the past three years, it has been more than one million people a year.
