Russia may introduce 72-hr visa free regime in air tourists soon

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is considering the introduction of a 72-hour visa free regime for tourists who arrive by plane soon, according to a protocol of a recent government meeting, seen by PRIME on Friday.

The government appointed the Federal Migration Service, Federal Security Service, Economic Development Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Transport Ministry, Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border Facilities and the State Duma, the parliament’s lower chamber, to study whether it is reasonable to speed up the adoption of the amendments to the country’s tourism legislation.

“The fastest adoption of this bill on the back of mass bankruptcies of Russian tour firms, shrinking growth rates of international passenger traffic of airlines and a difficult economic situation for Russian air carriers and airports will give an opportunity to increase the air tourism traffic by 5–8 million people annually,” the St. Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airport said in a statement.

If the amendments are adopted, the airport will attract six new airlines and increase its traffic by 1 million people per year, it said, adding that a multiplier effect for St. Petersburg will stand at U.S. $1.5 billion. The measure will also allow the airport to increase the number of flights by 3,500 annually.

The passenger traffic of Russian airlines went down 4.1% on the year to 5.12 million people in February, the Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement earlier on Friday.

International flight traffic fell 15.9% to 2.15 million people, while traffic on domestic lines grew 6.9% to 2.96 million passengers.

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