Visa relaxation creates surge in Russian tourist interest

The introduction of the visa-free policy will greatly facilitate Russian citizens' travel to China by reducing time, cost and procedural hurdles, and will offer strong support — especially for those with high-frequency, short-duration cross-border business travel needs, Russian business executives said.

Last month, direct flights from Wuhan, Hubei province, to Moscow, resumed, boosting bilateral exchanges between the two countries. China Southern Airlines flight CZ8003 was first launched in July 2014. However, it was later suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest move comes after China announced a visa-free policy for Russian ordinary passport holders from Sept 15 this year to Sept 14,2026. Russia has said it will reciprocate the measure.

According to data from major Chinese travel platform Qunar, within the first 30 minutes of the announcement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the volume of air ticket searches on the platform for itineraries originating in Moscow nearly doubled compared with the same period a week earlier, with peak instantaneous search volume reaching nearly four times the usual level. Searches for flights from Moscow to Beijing ranked first, with an average, tax-inclusive fare of 1,415 yuan ($199).

Andrey Chikhanchin, first deputy CEO for commerce and finance at Russian airline Aeroflot, said routes between Russia and China remain among the most in-demand and promising. In the first eight months of this year, passenger traffic on routes between the two countries increased by 34 percent, exceeding 660,000.

"Following the announcement of visa-free travel, bookings for flights to China have increased. We expect demand for travel between the two countries to continue growing, especially against the backdrop of simplified entry procedures," Chikhanchin said, adding that this will contribute to an increase in both tourism and business traffic, as well as the strengthening of economic ties between the two neighbors.

As demand grows, Aeroflot said it is ready to increase flight frequencies and expand its route network. Under the current schedule, the company operates regular flights from Russian cities to major destinations in China. From Moscow, direct flights are available to Beijing; Shanghai; Guangzhou, Guangdong province; and Sanya, Hainan province. Direct flights to Hong Kong will resume on Oct 2.

Moreover, for passengers from other Russian regions, there are direct flights to Sanya from eight Russian cities. In addition, Rossiya Airlines, under the commercial management of Aeroflot, operates direct flights from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk to Beijing; Harbin, Heilongjiang province; and Sanya, as well as from Vladivostok to Harbin and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept 4 that Moscow would "respond in kind to this friendly act" by Beijing, the Russian tourism industry expects a boost in arrivals from China.

Alexander Biba, president of Moscow-based Cosmos Hotel Group, told China Daily that China remains the traditional leader among the top five source markets for the Cosmos hotel chain.

By the end of the first half, Chinese travelers accounted for 37 percent of all foreign stays at Cosmos hotels, he said.

The decision to introduce a visa-free regime between Russia and China is welcomed by Russian business sectors, Biba said, adding it is an important step which, once a reciprocal arrangement for Chinese citizens is fully in place, will lead to increased tourist traffic and the strengthening of business and cultural ties between the two countries.

"For Cosmos Hotel Group, the Chinese market has traditionally been one of our priorities, as our group is ready to offer a high level of service and comfortable accommodation in all regions where we operate. We see this decision as a new opportunity for the development of domestic tourism," he said.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn