The tourist flow from China to the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg within organized visa-free groups exceeded 600,000 trips in 2018, an increase of 19 percent compared to 2017, a spokesperson for the World Without Borders tourist association told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) The tourist flow from China to the Russian cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg within organized visa-free groups exceeded 600,000 trips in 2018, an increase of 19 percent compared to 2017, a spokesperson for the World Without Borders tourist association told Sputnik.
"According to the assessment of the World Without Borders, last year, Chinese citizens made more than 600 thousand trips as part of organized tourist groups to Moscow and St. Petersburg. This figure represents an increase in the tourist flow by 19 percent compared to 2017," the spokesperson said.
The majority of Chinese tourists still enter the European part of Russia via Moscow � about 400,000 trips � more than 200,000 Chinese tourists start their trip to Russia from the northern capital.
According to the spokesperson, during the last week of 2018 and the New Year holidays, nearly 15,000 tourists from China visited Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is 30 percent more than it was during the same period last year.
The visa-free group entry from China remains predominant in the general flow of Chinese citizens visiting Russia. It makes up more than half of the overall number of trips, according to Rosstat estimates and almost 80 percent of the statistics provided by the border service of the Russia Federal Security Service (FSB), which specifically registers arrivals for tourist purposes.
In November 2018, the group tourist flow from China across Russia for the first time exceeded 1 million trips, while the final statistics for the past year will be summarized in the near future.
