Chinese tourists have made about 100 thousand trips to Russia since the beginning of the year by visa-free exchange program

“Chinese tourists have made about 100 thousand trips to Russia within visa-free exchange program since the beginning of 2018, which is 67% more than in the first quarter of the last year”, - reported the press service of the Tourism Association "A world without borders". According to the association, a high increase in the number of arrivals of tourists from China was observed in St. Petersburg. For three months of the year over 25 thousand travelers visited the city, which is 193% more than in the same period of the last year. Moscow was visited by 43 thousand Chinese tourists from the beginning of 2018, which is 79% more than in the first quarter of the last year. The association noted that for most Chinese tourists both cities are places which must be visited. The growth of the Chinese tourist flow to the border regions of Russia in the first quarter is not so great - it amounted 12% of all arrivals. For the first three months about 25 thousand Chinese tourists visited Baikal and Amur Regions, Khabarovsk Territory, Jewish Autonomous Region and Primorsky Territory. "The largest growth was registered in Amur Region (27%, 8,4 thousand arrivals) and Primorsky Territory (7%, 14,6 thousand arrivals.) In other border regions, on the contrary, there was a decline from 2 to 10%”, - the report says. The association stressed that the tourist flow from China will begin to grow in May and will reach its peak in the summer months, when the World Cup 2018 will be held in Russia. Also the first two months of autumn may be the "high" season for Chinese tourists in 2018.