Foreigners arriving in Russia by ferry will be allowed to stay in Russia for 72 hours without a visa.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution whereby foreign tourists arriving in Russia by ferry will now be allowed to stay on Russian territory for 72 hours without a visa. Tour operators hope that this "anti-crisis" measure would attract more than 1 million tourists a year to St Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution that would make it unnecessary for foreigners arriving for a short stay "by ferry for tourist purposes" to obtain visas. At present only passengers of cruise liners are allowed to stay in Russia without a visa for 72 hours. The visa regime was in force for tourists arriving by ferry (most of them Scandinavian citizens visiting St Petersburg and Kaliningrad over the weekend).
The head of Rosturizm, Anatoly Yarochkin, described the document as a "real anti-crisis measure". He stressed that it would boost the number of foreign tourists. He predicts that in 2009-2010 the number of foreigners visiting St Petersburg and Kaliningrad could double. At present more than 500,000 people a year visit these two cities by ferry, according to Rosturizm.
Igor Glukhov, director-general of the Inflot Worldwide St Petersburg travel agency, has explained that cruise runs are seasonal while ferries operate all year round. So, the decision to allow visa-free stay of ferry tourists in Russia for 72 hours "is economically justified, especially in the current crisis conditions. For example, up to 7 million tourists arrive in Tallinn by ferry every year, in Helsinki the figure is close to 9 million, and each tourist spends up to 100 euros a day," Mr Glukhov stressed. In his opinion, the market conditions are favourable: "because of the crisis enough ferries have been idle which could be used to carry passengers between St Petersburg and European countries." The resolution would make it possible to establish regular ferry service between Kaliningrad and cities in Poland.
"Vladimir Putin's decree redressed an injustice, said Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Tourist Industry Union. Ferry tourists will enjoy the same degree of freedom in Russia as passengers of cruise liners.
However, Mr Glukhov warns that the resolution will not necessarily yield the desired economic effect. "Although we do have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate ferries, we do not have our own ferry fleet," he says. "We will have to depend on federal and city governments to develop our own ferry service."
By Inna Kozenko