The flow of foreign tourists to Russia in 2023 increased 3.5 times and exceeded 670,000 entries, according to the data of the FSB border service. The leaders in the number of visits were tourists from China, Germany, Turkey and the UAE. In total, foreigners crossed the Russian border 15.4 million times last year, which is 18.6% more than in 2022.
The flow of foreign tourists to Russia in 2023 increased 3.5 times compared to the values of the previous year, writes RBC with reference to the statistics of the FSB border service. According to it, in just a year foreigners entered the country for tourist purposes 670,700 times.
The leaders in the number of visits to Russia last year were tourists from China, who crossed the Russian border 199,800 times. This is 237 times more than in 2022 (842 times), when covid restrictions were in effect in China.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) noted that the growth of tourist flow was influenced by the visa-free regime launched in August 2023 for tourist groups from China, as well as the de facto ban on group trips for Chinese to most European countries. According to the association, almost 48,300 Chinese tourists came to Russia through the visa-free channel.
The top 5 in the number of tourist trips to Russia are residents of Germany, Turkey, the UAE and Turkmenistan. According to the FSB, the number of tourists from Germany to Russia in 2023 compared to last year has increased 2.2 times, from Turkey — in half-out of the UAE and Turkmenistan — 8 and 9.5 times, respectively. At the same time, ATOR pointed out that not all foreigners who declared the tourist purpose of the visit actually came to Russia for tourism. For example, citizens of Turkmenistan, Germany and Turkey often enter on tourist visas, but for private or business purposes, the association reported.
In 2023, the tourist flow from Estonia increased sevenfold, to 14,500 trips, from Latvia — 2.6 times, to 13,200 trips, from Poland — 21 times, to 13,100 trips, and from Finland — 12 times, to 7,000 trips.
In total, in 2023, foreigners crossed the Russian border 15.4 million times, according to the data of the FSB border service. This is 18.6% more than in 2022 (13 million times). The leaders in entry were citizens of Kazakhstan (2.4 million trips, +26.7%). The flow of arrivals from Uzbekistan (+52%) and Tajikistan (+36%) has increased significantly. Among the non-CIS countries, China and Mongolia turned out to be the leaders. Chinese residents entered Russia 794,300 times (six times more often than a year earlier), Mongolian citizens — 311,400 times (+79%).
The increase in the flow of foreigners, as by RBC, is explained by the effect of the low base of 2022, when travel was restrained by pandemic restrictions, and after February 24, Western sanctions imposed in response to the "military special operation"* in Ukraine, which affected, in particular, air traffic and the banking sector.
In 2022, the tourist flow of foreigners to Russia was at the level of "statistical error", as noted earlier in ATOR.
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