Europe is still counting on Russian tourists. In order to quickly restore tourist flow from Russia, European countries thought about easing the visa regime. The most active in this matter are the European countries, which GDP largely depends on the tourism sector.
So, on April 27, the ministers of tourism of Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria presented a joint declaration at the informal meeting of EU tourism ministers asking the European Union to develop a plan for the rapid restoration of tourism.
First of all, the restoration of tourism will depend on the resumption of flights, primarily within the EU and, at the second stage, at the international level. At the same time, the European Union will closely monitor the epidemiological situation in other countries of the world, from where foreign tourists travel to Europe. These are the countries of Asia, North America, as well as Russia and Turkey.
Earlier, the Ministry of Tourism of Greece appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country with a request to facilitate visa procedures for citizens of non-European countries, including Russians. In particular, the issue of issuing national visas or “pro-visas” according to the model used by Cyprus is being discussed.
Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said at the meeting of EU tourism ministers that a more flexible approach is needed regarding visa regimes with third countries, and first of all, with Russia.
“We are making effort to facilitate visa procedures for Russia and Turkey, and we are discussing this issue with our Foreign Ministry,” Ms. Angelkova emphasized.
The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on the appeal of the Croatian tourist office in Russia, is studying the possibility of simplifying the visa regime for citizens of the Russian Federation.
