Visa-free tourism deal a boost for India-Russia ties
Russia and India are gearing up to launch their visa-free group tourist exchanges, strengthening their tourism ties. The first consultations between the two nations on the launch are scheduled for June.
These consultations will be followed by a bilateral agreement, which will be signed by the year-end, Nikita Kondratyev, director of the Russian Economic Development Ministry’s Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects, told Sputnik, a Russian state-owned news agency.
“The process with group visa-free trips has moved a little. The Indian side returned with the answer that they are at the final stage of internal state coordination and asked us again for the latest draft of the document and promised to return in the very near future. I think we will hold the first consultations with them in June to discuss a draft agreement,” Kondratyev said on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum “Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum 2024” in the Russian city of Kazan, being held from May 14-19.
“We plan to sign by the end of the year,” he said.
Replicating success
In early February, the ministry said it planned to replicate a similar exchange programme in India that it had signed with China and Iran.
Russia and China launched a visa-free group tourist exchange on August 1, 2023, as part of an intergovernmental agreement. In addition, from August 1, a visa-free group tourist exchange between Russia and Iran was also launched.
In 2023, Evgeny Kozlov, Chairman of The Moscow City Tourism Committee, said that the tourist traffic from India was growing at 12-15 per cent annually before the Covid-19 pandemic stopped tourism activities.
Indian tourists in Russia
In October last year, over 3,000 Indian tourists visited Moscow, Russia’s capital, within two months, thanks to e-visa facilities.
Kozlov said an increasing number of Indian businessmen were choosing Moscow as their preferred destination for business events. For Moscow, business tourists account for one-fifth of all tourist traffic to the city.
In 2023, India remained one of the leaders among visitors from non-Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) countries in terms of the number of business travellers. At least 60,000 Indians visited Moscow – a quarter more than a year earlier.
With growing bilateral cooperation, Russia is also considering establishing new direct flights from India to Moscow. To boost the sector further, film tourism will be the next big thing on Moscow’s tourism agenda.
“In five years, Moscow will be among the top five destinations for film tourism,” Kozlov said. “Our foremost priority is to attract filmmakers to Moscow and show them how easy it is to produce a new film here,” he said, adding that Moscow offers a single window clearance for those interested in shooting a film in the country.