Russia in talks with India for group visa-free travel

Russia is in discussions with India for a 'group-free visa regime,' allowing a specified number of tourists travelling together in a group to enter the country without a visa, a Moscow City Tourism Committee official said on Thursday. "When there is a group of tourists travelling together to Russia, the particular number should be mentioned in the document for the visit to become visa free. For example, in the Chinese document, the group should be 10-20 people. The Russian government is in talks with the Indian External Affairs Ministry for a final agreement on the number of people comprising a group from India to avail this facility," Moscow City Tourism Committee Chairman Evgeny Kozlov told PTI.

Kozlov further said India is an important country and ranks second in terms of source market among far abroad countries after China.

"India is a priority market for us. For us among the far abroad countries, China ranks at the number one position, followed by India. Indians are also good spenders while travelling, spending around USD 2,000 per person per trip," he said on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday evening.


In the first nine months of 2024, January-September, Moscow received 19.7 million guests including 61,000 Indians, he said.

By 2030 the number of foreign tourists in Moscow is expected to reach 6 million people, mainly due to travellers from the CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States), the Asia-Pacific region, India, the Middle East and other parts of the world, he stated.

"In the last two years we made the tourism image of Moscow our priority. There are three reasons for the increase in international visitors. First, we've been improving tourism infrastructure, second, actively promoting Moscow in our key countries like India. At the same time introducing e-visa regime," he added

Among segments, Kozlov said, Moscow City is focusing on Business, Wedding, Family and Film tourism.

Meanwhile, he said, a delegation of the Moscow City Tourism Committee is in talks with production houses to invite them to shoot in Moscow City.

"We want to attract Indian visitors to Moscow through cinema, therefore, our delegates are meeting with production houses and film directors to invite them to showcase Moscow City in their films. We are planning to provide them with incentives, which is still under discussion," Kozlov added.