Number of visa-free Chinese tourists in Russia doubles since 2015

BEIJING, March 11. /TASS/. The amount of Chinese tourists travelling to Russia within a visa-free program has doubled since 2015, reaching 1.1 mln people, Russian Travel Association "World without Borders" informed on Monday. "Since 2015, the number of Chinese tourists travelling to Russia via a visa-free channel has doubled. If in 2015, 537,000 people came to Russia within visa-free groups, in 2018 this number reached 1.1 mln tourists. During this period (2015-2018) the annual growth constituted about 200,000 visitors," the organization’s statement says. According to the association’s data, the average size of a Chinese tourist group travelling to Russia without a visa reaches around 30 people. The average age of a Chinese tourist on a trip to Russia is 53 years. The tourists tend to stay in Russia for about 8 days, spending around $550-600 a day. The association added that there had been an increase in tourist arrivals during the winter season within a visa-free program (67% in 2018). Read more