Russia sees 7.5% rise in inbound tourism in H1

MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Russia's inbound tourism rose by 7.5% in the first half of this year, meanwhile, 4% fewer foreigners visited the country in April-June, according to data from the Border Service of Russia's Federal Security Service.

In the first half of 2026, foreigners made 676,400 trips to Russia for tourism purposes, up 7.5% on the year earlier. Most of them came from China. In the second quarter, inbound tourism was down 4.2% to 383,250.

In April-June, China led by the number of departures to Russia, at 226,370, up 7.26% on the same period last year, the statistics said. Turkmenistan was in second place (25,520, up 47.6%). The last in the top three countries was Turkey, with 20,000 tourist trips, up 13.5% on the second quarter of 2025. They are followed by Germany (12,290, down 35.7%) and India (9,900, down 2.9%).

The others in the top ten are Saudi Arabia (5,770, down 50%), Vietnam (5,560, up 66.48%), Kazakhstan (5,450, down 16%), Belarus (3,890, down 6%) and Uzbekistan (3,730, down 14.43%).

Trips for all purposes were made largely from CIS countries. Uzbekistan is in first place (838,240, down 11.8%), followed by Kazakhstan (753,210, down 12.5%), China (480,580, up 7.96%), Tajikistan (376,500, down 13,6%), and Kyrgyzstan (223,000, down 21.3%).