In Russia, “inbound tourism” does not currently exist. Vice-President of ATOR Alexander Kurnosov told «Profile» about it. He emphasized that he spoke about both business and excursion, and sports travel to Russia of foreign tourists.
Kuronosov stressed that “this also applies to such traditionally attractive cities as Moscow and St. Petersburg. Even if there are some entry permits, there is no particular hope of increasing the influx of foreign tourists, because the tourist season traditionally lasts from May to September. »
According to him, there may be a chance for the resumption of business and sports tourism in the near future, but not on the same scale as before.
His forecast for Russian tourism is disappointing.
“It is virtually impossible to organize any excursions even for small foreign groups, neither to museums, nor to theaters — this is a big problem. Only if you act in semi-legal ways — not on the basis of an agreement with museum organizations. »
On the contrary, “outbound” tourism is available to Russians, but only to some foreign countries. On August 17, the European Union also announced the possibility of reuniting couples in love. So far, only the German authorities have announced this.
It is expected that the initiative will also be supported in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
