Visa free regime for Latin America, Turkey not to boost tourist numbers, says authority

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Cancellation of visas for those countries where Russians can travel without visas will not give a major boost to the number of visiting tourists, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Maya Lomidze, told Tass on Tuesday. An idea to ease visa requirements for other countries on the principle of reciprocity was voiced by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as he met with activists of United Russia Party in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk to discuss a bill enabling foreigners to stay in Russia 72 hours without a visa. "Cancellation of visas increases a flow of tourists in any case, but in terms of the current list of visa-free countries, we can hardly expect millions of tourists," Lomidze added. She said at the present moment, Russian nationals can travel without visas to almost all countries of Latin America, to Montenegro, Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia, while in other states that are positioned as visa-free in Russia, visa stamps are placed in foreign passports when the tourists cross the border. Russia enjoys visa-free travels with Turkey, but a tourist flow from Turkey is rather meager, just about 190,000 people last year, the executive director said. "From the point of view of inbound tourism, such countries are important for us as India, Iran, countries of South-East Asia, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and of course Europe," Lomidze said, noting that these countries could give a major boost to tourist numbers in Russia. However, anyway the initiative to abolish entry visas is an advantage for tourism, she noted. Read more