Foreign Tourist Visits To Russia Increase 11%, China The Largest Source

Overall tourism numbers to Russia have tripled from the beginning of 2024, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). There were 13 million trips by foreign nationals to Russia from January to September 2024, up 11% from the same period last year, according to data from the FSB border service.

The data also shows a growing demand from Chinese tourists, who made 731,800 trips from January to September – almost seven times more than in the same period last year, when 105,800 trips were made. Although Chinese demand for trips to Russia is growing, it is still recovering to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, when 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Russia in the same seven-month period.

Chinese tourists have been attracted as part of organised tourist groups utilising the Russia-China visa-free agreement, which sees Chinese nationals obtain a visa on arrival without the need to pre-apply. Chinese nationals now account for 65% of all tourist arrivals to Russia. The launch of online visa services has also helped overall tourist visits increase.

Russia’s tourism industry has shifted focus to Asia, as the West has imposed sanctions on Russia, and banned its aircraft from their airspace and closed ports to Russia. As a result, the country’s tourist industry has switched its focus to Asia and the Middle East.

There is now growing demand to visit Russia from other destinations such as Iran, Türkiye, the UAE, and India. Russia also saw a nearly twelvefold surge in tourists from Saudi Arabia, with 39,100 arrivals in the first nine months of the year compared to just 3,300 in the same period last year.