The number of Chinese tourists in Moscow and St. Petersburg for the first quarter has doubled

“Nearly 70,000 Chinese tourists visited Moscow and St. Petersburg on a visa-free program for the first quarter of 2018, which is twice as much as in the same period a year earlier. In 2017 33,000 tourists from PRC arrived in Russia as guests of the two Russian capitals”, - reported Interfax-Tourism portal. In comparison with the last year the number of arrivals of tourists from China to St. Petersburg increased by 2.5 times – up to 24 thousand. Moscow hosted about 43 thousand people, an increase of 79%. "In the first quarter of this year we are noting a steady increase of the Chinese flow through the so-called visa-free channel, which still remains predominant on this direction". On average 14 Chinese groups arrived in Moscow every day and every day eight groups came to the northern capital", - said the Executive Director of the Tourist Association World without Borders Alexander Agamov. The growth of the incoming tourist traffic from China to Russia is also noted in Irkutsk region. Over three months Chinese tourists have made more than 4 thousand visa-free trips, which is a thousand more than in the same period in 2017. Russian tour operators underline that this year Chinese tourists took an active part in the events of the two capitals as well as in the cities of the Golden Ring. A special increase of activity of Chinese guests was observed during the Christmas holidays, in the middle of February - on the Shrovetide week and on the days of the Chinese New Year, when for the period 5 - 21 February 5 thousand Chinese tourists visited Moscow and St. Petersburg.