VLADIVOSTOK, October 6 Head of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako proposed to increase the flow of tourists from abroad to Russia by increasing the validity period of a single electronic visa and making efforts to expand visa-free group tourist exchanges with friendly countries, the regional government reported on Friday.
Such proposals were voiced by the governor at a meeting of the working group of the commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation in the direction of «Tourism, physical culture and sports.» He noted that it is necessary to more actively invite friendly countries to conclude intergovernmental agreements on the organization of visa-free group tourist trips.
“This is a convenient mechanism that has proven itself well in practice in working with the PRC; we use such a mechanism, and quite successfully. And for other countries, visa-free exchange also needs to be expanded,” Kozhemyako is quoted as saying.
He also noted that it is necessary to increase the validity period of the unified electronic visa. Now, according to him, an obstacle to the use of this mode is the insufficient equipment of border checkpoints with software and hardware systems. It is important to fix this problem.
In addition, for the convenience of foreign tourists, Kozhemyako proposed speeding up and simplifying the process of issuing ruble bank cards abroad, as well as expanding the network of terminals in Russia that accept foreign cards issued in friendly countries for payment.
“We have open communications with Beijing and Harbin — these are convenient routes so that residents of other countries can get to us. But this mechanism is still at the very beginning, and we need to make wider use of these opportunities, opening new logistics routes in Asia , and in Latin America. At the Eastern Economic Forum in September, prospects for opening air traffic with Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines were revealed. Rosaviation needs to submit proposals for the step-by-step launch of flights on these and other promising routes,» the governor added.
According to him, according to the results of the first six months of 2023, the incoming tourist flow to Russia from abroad amounted to more than 187 thousand people.
“We see that after Covid, after the actions of unfriendly countries, the tourist flow is gradually gaining momentum,” Kozhemyako noted.
The mechanism for visa-free group exchange of tourists between Russia and China is operating again from August 1 after a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.