As Visa-Free Chinese Tourism Begins, Russians Reluctantly Welcome the Influx

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By Moscow Times Reporter

Published on January 21, 2026

ST. PETERSBURG — On a recent train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, half the carriage was occupied by travelers from China.

The group, made up of all ages, was on its way to Russia’s imperial capital as part of an organised Chinese tour group, one of the first since Moscow opened its doors to Chinese nationals without requiring a visa last month.

The carriage attendant, a stern woman in her 50s, paced up and down the aisle, muttering under her breath.

“Why did your compatriots laugh at me when I asked to check their passports again?” she asked the group’s guide, a Russian-speaking Chinese man. “Behave yourselves.”

The guide shrugged.

“These Chinese tourists have absolutely no manners,” the attendant said during a rest stop on the platform. “But of course, there are upsides. They even pay for hot water for some reason. Either that’s their custom, or they don’t know it’s free.”

After years of disruption caused by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, tourists from China are again flocking to Russia thanks to a new decree granting them visa-free entry.

The return of these high-spending tourists is being welcomed by Russia’s struggling tourism industry even as it revives familiar frictions with locals over cultural differences, overcrowding concerns and economic pressures.

The decree signed by President Vladimir Putin in December allows Chinese citizens to visit Russia for up to 30 days without a visa, mirroring Beijing’s September 2025 decision to grant Russians visa-free entry.

The new rules apply not only to tourists, but also to travelers arriving for business, scientific or sporting events.

This change is expected to boost Chinese arrivals by around 30%, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, with some experts predicting growth of up to 50%.

Many Chinese travelers are now choosing Russia over Japan, where tourism from China plummeted in December amid heightened diplomatic tensions over Taiwan.

Russian hotel bookings for Chinese travelers in the same month were up around 50% year-on-year, Subramania Bhatt, CEO of China Trading Desk, told The Moscow Times at the time.

While many Chinese visitors still flock to Moscow and St. Petersburg, their numbers are also rising in Russia’s Far East and northern regions, where they take northern lights tours and ride reindeer or dog sleds.

China has been Russia’s largest source of inbound tourism since 2014, when arrivals surged after the ruble collapsed following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. A visa-free regime for small tour groups drove growth until it was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At its peak, the influx drew some resentment.

In 2019, Deputy Culture Minister Alla Manilova said Chinese tour groups were crowding out Russian visitors at the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg. She proposed designating specific days for Chinese tourists, a suggestion the ministry ultimately abandoned.