Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin signed a decree establishing that the spread of coronavirus is an extraordinary and inevitable circumstance. The corresponding decree is published on the website of the mayor.

The Russian Railways have announced the termination of international trains with Latvia starting March 15, and with Ukraine and Moldova on March 17.

The Russian currency has reached record low values over the past 4 years. Representatives of travel agencies predicted how the behavior of Russian tourists will change.

Russia has imposed limitations on issuing visas for Iranian nationals, because of the coronavirus outbreak. Starting from Feb. 28, only humanitarian and business types visas will be allowed for Iranians,

From January to December 2019, foreigners made 32,9 million visits to Russia. This is about the same as in 2018 - an increase is 0,98%. However, the number of foreigners visiting Russia with tourist purposes increased by 20,5% over the year and amounted up to 5,1 million people.

The Border Service of Russia released the final data on the departure of Russian citizens abroad in 2019. Last year, the total exit flow increased by 7,9% compared to 2018 or by 3,5 million trips.

Tourist arrivals to Russia have surged by 20,5% in 2019. Country-specific figures showed increasing tourist arrivals in Russia from all continents except Latin America. The top five countries where tourists came from remained unchanged since 2018.

The tourist potential of Russian regions will be presented 42nd International Belgrade Tourism Fair, scheduled for February 20-23.

The fallout from the coronavirus has left the resort's hotels largely empty. Winter is high season for tourism around Lake Baikal in Siberia, but the coronavirus outbreak has curtailed its main source of income - Chinese holidaymakers.

Citizens of 53 countries will be able to apply for simplified, low-cost electronic visas to visit Russia starting next year.

A Russian cruise line has will offer trips along the Northern Sea route, a vast strip of the ocean in the Arctic Circle which has become navigable in recent years due to global warming.

State-run operator Russian Railways has suspended passenger traffic between Russia and North Korea because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air plans to launch new flights from St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport in 2020.

Russian tour operators have put group tours from China on hold as the country is fighting the outbreak of the coronavirus. The travel ban for Chinese tourists may reduce tourist flow from China in the first quarter of 2020 by some 70-80%.

The number of requests of foreign tourists to travel to Russia for the New Year's holidays increased by 31% in 2019. Most foreign tourists looked for tickets for the New Year holidays in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The Russian capital, which last year was the top-hashtagged city on Instagram, has been named the world’s fifth-best metropolis in a ranking of 100 major cities by Resonance Consultancy.

U.S.-based international hotel and resort chain Wyndham plans to open 15 new hotels in Russia and neighboring countries within the next two years.

Outbound tourism will generally show relatively light growth in 2020. The most noticeable increase will be in classical mass tourism segment.

Russia’s Sakhalin and Kuril Island are already a popular tourist destination, with modern ski resorts complementing their unique and pristine nature.

The regions of Russia’s Far East could propose establishing medical tourism programs to lure in visitors from Asian countries.

Organized inbound tourist flow to Russia grew by 20% at the end of 2019. The increase occurred, including due to the expansion of the season and the introduction of an electronic visa.

Trip.com Group and UnionPay International, have jointly published the “2019 Chinese Outbound Travel Consumption Report”. The report, combining big data derived from outbound travel product orders and overseas bank card transactions by Chinese nationals provides insights into the cross-border travel consumption trends of Chinese travellers. According to the statistics from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Chinese nationals made more outbound travel expenditures than travellers from any other country, with total consumption reaching US$ 127.5 billion. January — November 2019 Travel Report, top 20 destinations for Chinese travellers are: Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, Cambodia, Philippines, Russia, Australia, Italy, UAE, Turkey, France, UK,Myanmar, Maldives, Germany, and New Zealand.