ST. PETERSBURG, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese travelers accounted for more than half of Russia's foreign tourists during the first half of 2024, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said on Monday, citing data from the Russian border agency.
In the first six months, 584,600 foreign nationals visited Russia for tourism purpose, with 301,900 coming from China.
Chinese travelers also dominated the inbound tourism to Russia before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the same period of 2019, 592,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Russia, accounting for less than one-third of all entry. Despite the decrease in numbers, the share of Chinese tourists increased significantly this year.
According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, the number of foreign tourists traveling to Russia has tripled compared to last year. In addition to China, Turkmenistan and Turkey were also major sources of foreign tourists to Russia.
Before relations between Russia and Western countries worsened, Germany was a key source of foreign tourists for Russia.
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