Foreigners who have received a tourist visa will be allowed to stay in Russia for six months. They can apply for a visa only on the basis of the reservation of a hotel. A bill containing such rules is being developed by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the news outlets, the Ministry is developing amendments to Art. 25.6 of the Federal Law «On the procedure for leaving and entering the Russian Federation». Their aim is to simplify the receipt of Russian tourist visas by foreign citizens, regardless of their country of origin[1].
The spokesperson of the Ministry has stated: «The bill, in particular, introduces the possibility of issuing a tourist visa on the basis of confirmation of booking a accommodation facility, information about which is contained in a single list of registered hotels».
Another novelty is an increase of up to six months in the period of stay of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation with a tourist visa. Currently, such a visa is issued for a period of up to one month.
The Ministry emphasized its cooperation with relevant authorities in consistently taking a number of measures to increase Russia’s attractiveness as an important tourist destination and this bill is only one of them. The document will be submitted within the deadlines set by the government’s legislative plan for 2020, the Ministry said.
Russia’s prominent political parties, such as «United Russia», «A Just Russia» and «LDPR», have mostly expressed their support of the measures that are meant to facilitate the obtaining of the tourist visa and aimed at development of the tourism industry.
However, the «Communist Party» was more critical of the initiative. The deputy chairman of the faction, Nikolai Kolomeytsev, proposes to concentrate the efforts on the development of domestic tourism.
According to the Association of Russian Tour Operators, in 2019, following the results of three quarters, the growth of tourist flow in the Russian Federation amounted to 20%. China remains the leader among the countries whose citizens visit Russia, although Korea, Germany, Italy and Spain outperformed it in terms of increasing tourist flow. According to the analysts, there is growth even in such «geopolitically complex» markets as the UK and the USA.
According to the Turstat analytical agency, Moscow was among the five most popular cities for tourists in 2019 – it was visited by 25 million people, St. Petersburg (9.1 million), Sochi (6.5 million), Kazan (3.5 million) and Vladivostok (more than 3 million).
In Moscow alone, the contribution of tourism to the city’s budget system in 2019 reached 147 billion rubles, while in 2018 the amount amounted to 118 billion rubles.
As the vice
president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Yuri Barzykin puts it: «Any
simplification of the rules of entry into the country will be a plus for the
development of the tourism industry and for the economy of the Russian
Federation».
[1] https://iz.ru/969384/natalia-bashlykova/dolshe-budesh-inostrantcam-nachnut-vydavat-rossiiskie-vizy-na-polgoda