Russia and China will sign a new agreement on visa-free regime in 2019

“Russia and China will sign a new intergovernmental agreement on visa-free group tourist trips in 2019,” told Oleg Safonov, the head of Rostourism. He also noted that the negotiation process on intergovernmental agreement is in the final stage. In accordance with the new agreement, the minimum number of "visa-free" tourist group will be reduced from five to three people - this is done to encourage family tourism. In addition, the period of visa-free stay will be extended from 15 to 21 days, which, according to market experts, contributes to the promotion of medical tourism. "The signing of the agreement will allow us to give new impetus to the development of tourist flows between Russia and China, which are already growing all the time. Thus, in the first half of this year, the flow of tourists from China to Russia increased by 21%," the head of Rostourism said. He also noted that over 2017 China was the leader in the number of incoming tourist trips to Russia, far ahead of Finland, Poland and Germany. In the first half of 2018, the incoming tourist flow from China increased by 21% compared to the same period of the last year - up to 667 thousand trips. According to experts, the direct revenues from Chinese tourists in Russia in 2017 amounted to 120 billion rubles,” stressed Oleg Safonov.