According to the most recent report from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), Russia experienced a “significant increase in international tourism” during the initial three months of 2024, with the total number of foreign tourists visiting the country more than tripling in comparison to the corresponding period in the previous year.

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ATOR claims that approximately 219,000 international arrivals to Russia have been documented for that time period. It also states that nearly half of these arrivals were Chinese visitors. In the first quarter of 2024, Chinese nationals accounted for close to 100,000 trips related to tourism. Throughout the entirety of 2023, nearly 200,000 such visits were registered.

Turkmenistan, Turkey, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were among the top five countries in terms of tourist visits to Russia.

The report shows that during the initial six months of the previous year, the majority of visitors from China to Russia were primarily business tourists. However, starting from the latter part of the previous year and continuing into the first quarter of 2024, there was a noticeable increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Russia for sightseeing purposes.

From the early 2000s until the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, China was Russia’s primary provider of inbound tourists due to the visa-free arrangement for tourist groups. Additionally, visitors from China have consistently ranked highest in terms of expenditure on tourism-related activities among foreign travelers in Russia.

However, the group arrangement was put on hold in 2020, because of the pandemic restrictions. Last year, the revival of the visa-free program for groups, along with the introduction of an e-visa service between the two nations, played a significant role in bolstering Chinese tourism to Russia.

Russia’s tourism authorities are hoping that the implementation of electronic visas and the increasing demand from Asia could lead to a significant growth in the number of tourists visiting Russia in 2024. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has set a target of attracting 16 million inbound international visitors by 2030, primarily from 17 priority countries in the Middle East and Asia.