In Russia “inbound tourism » does not currently exist. ATOR vice-president Alexander Kurnosov told Profile about this. He emphasized that he was talking about both business, excursion, and sports travel to Russia by foreign tourists.
Kuronosov emphasized 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 for an increase in 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 in museums or theaters — this is a big problem. Only if you act in semi-legal ways — not on the basis of an agreement with museum organizations.»
Outbound tourism, on the contrary, 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.
