India expects more than 300 thousand Russian tourists in 2018

“India expects more than 300,000 Russian tourists in 2018,” told Anup Biswas, a representative of the Indian Ministry of Tourism. “Following the results of 2018, we plan to host more than 300 thousand Russian travelers in India. Most of them, of course, prefer Goa, but we intend to expand the geography of the country and give them the opportunity to visit other states - Kerala, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir in the Himalayas,” added Mr. Anup Biswas. According to A. Biswas, foreign tourists in India are increasingly attracted by Ayurveda, yoga philosophy, alternative medicine, national and religious holidays. “Russia is one of the main source markets of tourists to India. The task of the tourism office is not to attract as many travelers to the country as possible, but to tell about it, to interest people in our culture and customs,” he explained. The representative of the Ministry of Tourism named Britain, the USA, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Australia among the leading countries of tourist traffic. As A. Biswas noted, the main problem of the geography of Russian travels in India is the lack of direct air links with many provinces of the country. “Now there are only direct flights of Aeroflot airline and charters to Goa from Russia to India. In order to get to other states, you have to travel with connections, which is not always convenient. We will work in this direction and negotiate with Russian tour operators for forming charter program to other parts of the country,” he said. According to A. Biswas, from Russia you can fly to India with a change in Dubai, from where airplanes fly to India in 14 regions. Also, from October 28, Oman Air airline will fly from Domodedovo to Muscat (Oman), from where there are flights to 16 destinations. In 2017, India was visited by 278.9 thousand Russian tourists.