BY TTT NEWS NETWORK
KOLKATA, 19 FEBRUARY 2023
Due to the ongoing war with Ukraine and stoppage of major airlines the international tourist footfall has dropped over 96 percent last year, forcing Russia to rethink on its Visa policy and is now planning to ease it for friendly countries including India.
India and Russia enjoy a strong diplomatic tie up since long time. Russia is planning Visa free travel to citizens of about 11 countries and ease the current visa requirement of some other six countries including India.
From 1 June it is also planning to reintroduce the E- Visa, which has been withdrwan on 2020 just after the outbreak of the global corona virus pandemic. Frome 1 June, the E visa programmee will restart.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said few day ago that the country is planning to ease visa for its friendly countries like India and Indonesia.
After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last year there has been several sanctions from the West and most of the international airlines have stopped flying to Russia, resulting in low turnout of international visitors.
Last year only over two lakhs international tourists have travelled to Russia a drop from over 5.1 million international tourist footfall in 2019.
First the two year corona virus global epidemic outbreak and then the invasion to Ukraine has badly hit the international tourism of Russia since the past three years.
Before the covid -19 pandemic outbreak about one lakhs Indians used to visit Russia every year and the footfall was increasing every year.
Tourism in Russia –
Tourism has seen rapid growth since the late Soviet period , first domestic tourism and then international tourism both. Rich cultural heritage and natural variety puts  Russia among the most popular choices of  tourist destinations in the world. Not including Crimea, the country contains 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while many more are on UNESCO’s tentative lists.
Major tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the big rivers including the Volga, and long journeys on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer different foods and souvenirs, and show a great variety of traditions, including Russian Maslenitsa, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals.
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