This photo taken on March 10, 2023 shows the scenery along the Moscow River in Moscow, Russia.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Dozens of hotels and travel agencies in Moscow are promoting their businesses in a number of Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as a Moscow tourist official said that he expected inbound tours from China to increase. The city is ramping up efforts to facilitate tourism, including the wider use of the yuan.

"In the first quarter of 2023, we are seeing more than 25,000 Chinese tourists visit Moscow, which was five times more than the figure in the same period of 2022, and we expect that tourist arrivals from China will increase by the end of the year," Yevgeny Kozlov, chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, said at the road show held in Beijing on Monday.

This will be facilitated, among other things, by the launch of visa-free group trips and electronic visas to enter Russia," said Kozlov.

Representatives from about 30 hotels, travel agencies and transportation companies from Moscow and some 200 Chinese tourism companies showed up at the event. 

In 2019, a total of 870,000 Chinese tourists visited Moscow, which has many attractions appealing to Chinese. 

Much hope has been pinned on the launch of e-visas in July. 

Some Chinese tourist operators at the event said that the business was affected first by the COVID-19 pandemic, and now some tourists are concerned by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"However, some Chinese are still visiting Russia despite the conflict," one representative from a travel company told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.

"Visa facilitation would be a great boon. I expect the implementation of e-visa procedures to reduce the time needed for getting visas from three weeks to three days, and this will make our task in attracting customers much easier," the person said.

When asked about whether the travel business is subject to geopolitical pressures, the person said she believed that tourists from China will not be swayed by the West. 

The yuan has seen increased use in bilateral trade. More than 80 percent of trade settlements with China are now conducted in rubles or yuan, as recently revealed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Travel infrastructure such as payment channels has been improved to better accommodate tourists from China.

"Chinese tourists, who hold UnionPay cards issued by foreign banks, can withdraw cash from ATMs of many banks in Moscow. Many facilities and venues also offer the possibility to pay using WeChat," Kozlov told the Global Times on Monday.

"China has normal economic and trade cooperation with Russia and other countries in the world. Our cooperation is based on equality and mutual benefit. We oppose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or mandates from the UN Security Council," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press conference on May 23.

China-Russia cooperation does not target any third party and is not subject to disruption or coercion by any third party. China will take all measures necessary to protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies, said Mao.

Song Kui, president of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday that despite some security concerns arising from the conflict, Russian tourist destinations will still hold some Chinese tourists, especially senior citizens, spellbound and demand will remain.

"Amid the background of the Russian pivot to the East, it is only natural that the Russian tourism sector is looking to increase its charm offensive to Chinese tourists," Song said.

Air links between the two countries are also recovering, according to media reports.

In March, Beijing launched a direct China-Europe freight train service to Moscow, boosting logistics connection between the two capitals.

China and Russia held the 14th Meeting of Working Group on High Technologies and Innovation in Beijing on June 15, according to Ministry of Science and Technology. The two sides exchanged views and reached consensus on scientific exchanges, project cooperation and platform building.