Foreign Visitor Card Is On Horizon As Moscow Tries to Attract Travelers

The Moscow City Tourism Committee is taking multiple initiatives to attract travelers from across the world, and the Russian government is going to create a virtual Foreign Tourist Card, which will allow cashless payments for various services.

The tourist influx to Moscow has drastically decreased during the COVID-19 epidemic. However, the number of Indian tourists visiting Moscow is gradually increasing, and with tourist-friendly measures such as e-visas, this number is expected to rise in the coming months.

Bulat Nurmukhanov, Head of the International Cooperation Division of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, stated, “We are still on our way to restoring the flow of Indian tourists in Moscow like it used to be before the pandemic. Before the pandemic, there was very steady growth like 12-15 percent on a y-o-y basis”.

Tourists from India and 54 other countries will be able to apply for an electronic visa to enter Russia commencing August 1, 2023.

Furthermore, initiatives such as the Foreign Tourist Card will aid in addressing payment-related concerns following the withdrawal of MasterCard and Visa from the Russian market, according to Bulat.

The Russian Federal Government is working on developing a Foreign Tourist Card. The proposal is in the works, and various legislative documents have been altered to make this card viable.

“The idea behind this card is, that a person back home in India can remotely apply for this card and then he/she can transfer money from the personal bank account to this bank account”, Bulat continued.

It will be supplied to the user at home and will be a virtual card. This card will fulfill the payment needs of foreign tourists in Moscow.

To provide more travel options for tourists, Russian flag airline Aeroflot boosted the frequency of its flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route to seven times per week in March this year, up from four weekly services previously.

Earlier this month, India and Russia in principle agreed to modify their bilateral aviation services agreement, allowing Russian carriers to fly up to 64 flights per week, up from 52 to India.

Russian airlines are permitted to fly to six Indian cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad.

“We are really looking forward to the Indian Airlines to restore their flight connections to Moscow. Right now only Aeroflot is operating flights between Delhi and Goa. However, there are some other options available from Dubai to Moscow”, Bulat explained.

As per Bulat, there are seven visitor centers throughout Moscow to help with the language barrier that makes arriving in and exploring a new nation extremely scary. It also has a phone center for foreign travelers in case they require assistance.

“We are in the process of translating the city navigation into English. Our businesses are extremely active and quick to respond to market demands”, Bulat remarked.

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