Russia's Tourism Agency reports 24% increase in Chinese tourists

Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm) reported (01-Nov-2017) 840,000 Chinese visited the Russian Federation under the visa free exchange programme between Jan-2017 to Sep-2017, up 24% year-on-year. Most Chinese tourists visited Moscow (296,000 visits, up 15%), Primorsky Territory (184,000, up 9%) and the Amur Region (93,000, up 36%). Rosturizm head Oleg Safonov stated: "The significant growth of the tourist flow from China, which is observed in recent years in Russia, is connected with many factors: active promotion of our country in the Chinese tourist market, raising the level of service for tourists from China, diversification of tourist products and, of course, visa-free group tourist exchange. The key tasks from the point of view of further development of inbound tourism from China is to expand the geography of travel and the range of offers for Chinese travelers, including due to ecological, rural, gastronomic and industrial tours". [more - original PR - Russian]