Foreigners refuse to travel to Russia because of the visa centers

The chairman of the Travel Industry Association of Kaliningrad Tamara Toporova informed of the negative consequences for the tourist industry after the Russian visa centers opening in Europe.

“The introduction of the visa centers in favor of a separate business entities, which are in fact the intermediaries, contrary to policy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to their removal, contradicts to the economic interests of the Russian Federation, to the principles of fair competition according to the relevant federal law, as well as the technological processes of the tourism industry”, – noted Ms. Toporova in the statement to the IA “Regnum”.

As the chairman noted, among other things, the foreigner are confused by the complicate visa procedure and their higher prices (as noted by the head of the Association, the cost of visas for short visits to Russia grew almost twice).

For example, to obtain a Russian visa, German citizens can fill out an application on-line in English only, which makes it difficult for older tourists who travel more often to Russia. In addition, any error or correction leads to the need to remake the whole form completely. Another obstacle is the need to provide the income information.

“Our colleagues from Germany concluded that since the introduction of the new rules and increased visa fee, the outflow of tourists to Russia made 30%, and by the beginning of the season this percentage increased to 50%”, – noted Tamara Toporova.