Russia May Woo Indians With Visa Free Entry; Expects Pre-Covid Footfall From India By 2023 End

by Shreya Ghosh
Russia May Woo Indians With Visa Free Entry; Expects Pre-Covid Footfall From India By 2023 End

The Covid-19 pandemic created a storm in everyone’s life and in every work sector. The tourism industry all around the world faced major problems as travelling for the purpose of exploring new destinations completely came to a halt. And now every country is on its way to bringing back pre-pandemic tourist footfall as soon as possible. Russia is also introducing a new initiative to boost tourism in the country. In fact, they are planning to be back on track like before Covid-19 very soon.

Russia May Start Visa Free Entry For Indian Tourists

Thousands and lakhs of tourists from India jet off to Russia every year. But the footfall dropped down to quite an extent because of the Covid-19 pandemic. And to lure foreign visitors and boost tourism in the country, Russia might start a visa-free travelling system for Indian visitors. Alina Arutyunova is the deputy chairman of the Moscow metropolis tourism committee and she was in Mumbai very recently. She said, ‘The President of the Russian Federation has supported an initiative to introduce a visa-free regime for group tourists. Such an order has already been received for Iran on Tuesday. It’s possible that the same assignment will soon be for India’, as reported by the Times of India.

Also read: Tourism In Goa Largely Dependent On Russia And UK: Tourism Minister

Photo credit- Pixabay

Tourism is improving slowly as about 48% of tourists from India travelled to Moscow in 2021 after the borders opened for foreigners. In the same year, the numbers from India improved by 40%. Also, the first half of 2022 witnessed over 13,000 Indian tourists in Moscow, Moscow City Tourism Committee shared. In between the war and Covid-19, globetrotters are leaving to explore Russia. Moscow is expecting tourist footfall like that of pre-pandemic by the last month of 2023.

Also read: Russia President Putin Has Special Suitcase To Carry His Poop, Urine From Foreign Trips

Russian Visa Policy Is A Major Influence!

Indian visitors are flying to Russia in huge numbers after the pandemic and one of the biggest reasons is the  Russian visa policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the plan of launching a visa-free travelling system for international travellers. Also, the country will introduce the e-visa application for 52 countries and India is one of these countries.

Cover image courtesy: Pixabay