Number of foreign tourists who visited Russia in summer 2024 increases by half from 2023 - Russian deputy PM

MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) - The number of foreign tourists who visited Russia in the 2024 summer season increased by a half from summer 2023, some one million people visited in July and August alone, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said.

"Russia is open to foreign guests, and this summer season we hosted 50% more foreigners than last season. That is, they are coming gladly. In July and August alone, some one million foreign tourists visited Russia, and by the end of the year the figure will rise to some five million. Besides Moscow and St. Petersburg, good dynamics for hosting foreign guests are demonstrated by the Primorye Territory, the Krasnodar Territory, the Stavropol Territory, and also Karelia, Tatarstan, the Novosibirsk region, the Irkutsk region, and the Sverdlovsk region," he said at a meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and the government.

The Russian Foreign Ministry resumed the issuance of electronic visas in 2023, which positively impacted the dynamics of inbound tourism, Chernyshenko said.

"One out of every five foreigners visited our country on such visas in the summer, it's more than 300,000 people. The most tourists visited us from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Iran, and also Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Another half a million tourists visited us as part of group visa-free exchanges between China and Iran with our country," he said.

The Russian tourism products are now being actively promoted abroad, in China, India, and the Persian Gulf countries, Chernyshenko said. Direct regular flights connect Russia to 36 foreign countries.