According to official statistics, the number of foreign tourists visiting Russia is growing steadily. Last year, the country received eight million foreigners who came for pleasure, rather than business. This year the Russian Union of Tourism forecasts a further increase of 10%. This is a fairly high figure, but the results of 2000-2001, when the tourist inflow soared by 30-50% is unlikely to be repeated.
"We have to reject at least half of the applications from abroad, because there is nowhere to accommodate foreign tourists," says Alexei Zhegalov, general director of the VIT-Inform company. "Until modern hotels are built in the regions, no increase in the figure can be expected."
This is the reason why European tourists are ever less inclined to go to Russia, while more and more guests from the Orient are arriving in the country. In the first five months of this year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Maritime Territory grew by 20,000 people against the same period last year. If a trip from Harbin to Europe costs Chinese tourists about $2,000, a journey to the Russian Far East costs mere $300, Izvestia writes.
