Die Russische Union der Tourismusbranche erklärte, warum es schwierig ist für Ausländer nach Moskau gekommen, um
The Russian Union of Travel Industry named the two main causes of slow growth of tourist flow in Russia. Among these reasons the experts in the field of tourism name the difficulty in obtaining visas to Russia and transportation problems, – reports the news agency RIA Novosti.
International experts note a significant tourist potential of the country. In particular, according to the UNWTO, Russia is able to receive annually at least 70 million foreign and Russian tourists.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recalled this potential at a meeting on tourism development, saying that today the country occupies the 59th place in the world ranking of tourist attractions and receives about 2 million tourists a year.
To improve the situation the RUTI proposed in 2005 the rating of issues that need to be decided at the first place to increase the flow of foreign tourists in Russia. But experts note that many of the pressing problems remain then and now.
In particular, this list is concerned the expansion of the number of appointed airlines by intergovernmental agreements, the market development of low-costars, expanding the geography of subsidies to seasonal traffic, the abolition of VAT on domestic passenger transport, the introduction of additional measures to monitor compliance with antimonopoly laws.
Other measures proposed by the Union relate to visa formalities. In particular, the tourism industry experts suggest measures such as visa-free entry for 72 hours in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a hotel voucher and return air or train ticket, the introduction of similar conditions on the visa-free access to the biggest events, and as a final measure the introduction of visa-free regime with the European Union.
