Facilitated visa regulation increase tourist flows from Mongolia to Buryatia

CHITA, eastern Siberia, November 17 /TASS/. About 2,000 Mongolian citizens crossed into Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia, on November 14 after Russia and Mongolia had introduced facilitated visa regulations, a spokesperson for the republic’s government said. Tourist flows into neighboring Mongolia have also increased. In the first two days of visa-free travel, Russian buyers increased the sales in some Mongolian shops by 60%. According to Buryatia’s head, Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, the renovation of an international car passage Kyakhta - Altan-Bulag will be the next step in developing bilateral relations. The construction is to be finished in 2015. Buryatia also plans to repair the Ulan-Ude-Kyakhta highway and start the reconstruction of the Monda border checkpoint. The Buryatian authorities have purchased two L-410 aircraft and trained two international crews as part of its plans to re-open air traffic between the Republic of Buryatia and Mongolia. Matvei Gershevich, chairman of Buryatia’s People’s Hural /Legislative Assembly/, regards the facilitation of visa regulations as a new spiral of friendly relations. “We have embarked on a path of developing tourism. Tourists would like to visit Buryatia, Lake Baikal and the no less mysterious Mongolia. But problems with obtaining visas were a hindrance. Tour operators can now offer such tours,” Nagovitsyn explained. The authorities of the neighboring Trans-Baikal region want to launch regular bus routes to Mongolia. Passenger transportation between the Russian and Mongolian border regions also became possible after visas had been cancelled. A Russian-Mongolian Inter-governmental agreement on reciprocal trips of citizens took effect on November 14. Under this document, citizens of both countries who hold diplomatic or official foreign passports can enter, leave, travel by transit or stay in the territory of the other state without visas for a period up to 30 days. The overall term of sojourn should not exceed 90 days in the course of a 180-day period starting from the date first entry. Meanwhile, a Russian visa center has opened in the Indian capital New Delhi and three more are expected to open in the Indian cities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai before year’s end. The visa centers will issue all types of visas five days a week. About 30,000 Indian citizens visit Russia every year. “This figure mismatches both the potential and quality of bilateral relations between Russia and India,” said Alexander Abramov, general director of the Lex Systems Company which had founded the visa center in New Delhi. “We polled about 3,000 people. More than 90 percent of respondents said they would like to visit Russia. We believe that lack of information is the main reason why a relatively small number of Indian tourists travels to Russia,” Abramov explained. The Russian visa center located in Connaught Place in New Delhi expects the number of Indian tourists to Russia to triple in the next two years. “The visa center’s opening will facilitate the process of obtaining Russian visas for Indian citizens,” Abramov added. Russian visa centers will open in Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta on November 20, November 24 and December 1, respectively. Read more