Tourism in Russia

Tourism in Russia plummeted in 2022. Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1% from pre-pandemic/pre-Russian invasion of Ukraine years.^[1] Earlier, Russia had seen rapid growth since the late Soviet times, first domestic tourism and then international tourism as well.^[2] Russia had formerly been among the most popular tourist destinations in the world, though it fell off that list in 2022. Not including Crimea, the country contains 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while more are on UNESCO's tentative lists.^[3]

Tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the rivers including the Volga, and long journeys on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer different foods and souvenirs, and show a variety of traditions, including Russian Maslenitsa, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals. In 2013, Russia was visited by 33 million tourists, making it the ninth-most visited country in the world and the seventh-most visited in Europe.^[4]

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several governments, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have issued travel advisories calling on their nationals to avoid travel to Russia.^[5] For the same reason, airline routes between Russia and Western countries were closed, and supply of spare parts for some domestic airline traffic inside Russia became a challenge.^[6]

Only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1 percent from the pre-pandemic period.^[1] Most of Europe closed its airspace to Russian planes a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.^[1] Foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard cards no longer work in Russia, further impacting tourism.^[1]

Tourist destinations in Russia include Saint Petersburg (which appeared in the list of top visited cities of Europe in 2010) and Moscow, the current and the former capitals of the country. Moscow and Saint Petersburg museums such as Hermitage and Tretyakov Gallery, theaters including Bolshoi and Mariinsky, churches such as Saint Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Church of the Savior on Blood, fortifications such as the Kremlin and Peter and Paul Fortress, squares such as Red Square and Palace Square, and streets such as Tverskaya and Nevsky Prospect. Palaces and parks are found in the former imperial residences in the suburbs of Moscow (Kolomenskoye, Tsaritsyno) and Saint Petersburg (Peterhof, Strelna, Oranienbaum, Gatchina, Pavlovsk Palace, Tsarskoye Selo). Moscow contains Soviet-era buildings along with modern skyscrapers, while Saint Petersburg has classical architecture, rivers, channels and bridges.

Nizhny Novgorod is the capital of the Volga region. Nizhny Novgorod is divided into two parts by the Oka River. The Upper City is its historical part. The Lower City is its industrial and commercial part. Here are the Fair, the old Sormovo and Kanavino, GAZ and Sotsgorod (the so-called "city in the city"), the railway terminal, and the airport.

Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, shows a mix of Christian Russian and Muslim Tatar cultures.

Sakha Republic proposes to use former forced labour camps as a tourist attraction.^[7] Poles visit places of Communist crimes, e.g., of the Katyn massacre and Solovetsky Islands.^[8][9]

Russia is home to museums that include the Tretyakov Gallery, the Kremlin Armoury and the State Historical Museum in Moscow, the Hermitage Museum, and the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, the Kazan Kremlin in Kazan, etc. Russia has museums related to its literary and classical music heritage, such as Yasnaya Polyana associated with Leo Tolstoy, the Mikhaylovskoye Museum Reserve associated with Alexander Pushkin, the Dostoyevsky Museum, the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum, and the Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment and Museum.

Museums related to Russia's military history and military hardware include the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill, the Central Naval Museum in St Petersburg, the Battle of Stalingrad Museum in Volgograd. Museums related to science and technology include the Polytechnic Museum of Moscow, and the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics.

The GULAG History Museum tells the story about the GULAG camps in Siberia.^[10]

In Russia, Nature Reserves have history and it has its own word of definition Zapovedniks (Russian: заповедник, plural заповедники) more than 100 Nature Reserves exist in Russia and more than 50 National Parks.

National parks and sanctuaries of Russia include the Baikal Nature Reserve, the Altai Nature Reserve, the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve, the Curonian Spit National Park, the Valdaysky National Park, the Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve, the Ilmen Nature Reserve.

The Seven Wonders of Russia include Lake Baikal, Valley of Geysers, Manpupuner rock formations, Kizhi Island, and Mount Elbrus.

Other areas include Republic of Adygea where Fisht Mountain is located, Chechnya Republic where Lake Kezenoyam is located.^[11]

Mineral spa resorts have been established across Russia in such regions as Kamchatka Krai, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, North Caucasus region of Russia.^[12] Some cities have natural hot spring water during winter and some of Russian cities are called Russian Spa town, including Pyatigorsk, Yessentuki, Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk and Mineralnye Vody; these towns are jointly known as the Caucasian Mineral Waters.

Russia has one of the largest water borders in world, but only the more Southern regions are suitable for resort tourism. The warm subtropical Black Sea coast of Russia is the site for some seaside resorts such as Sochi and Tuapse.

A vast part of Russian territory is in Subarctic climate and humid continental climate, and that is why it is cold. In addition, Russia is mountainous in regions like Northern Caucasus, Altai Krai and Kamchatka Peninsula. The highest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus, is in Russia, which makes Russia a place for winter sports. Ski resorts are in Russia. A ski resort in Russia is Sochi and its Krasnaya Polyana. Other ski resorts in Russia are Dombay in Karachay–Cherkessia in Northern Caucasus.^[13]

Russia is a destination for medical tourism. A factor in its popularity was the relatively weak ruble post-2014, which saw the industry grow from some 110,000 clients in 2017^[14] to some 728,000 clients in the first five months of 2020.^[15] Stomatology is the most used (44% of patients), genecology and urology follow (25% taken together), the other services are plastic surgery (10%), ophthalmology (10%), and cardiology (5%).^[14] Most clients come from the CIS states, where receiving high-tech medical assistance can be problematic, particularly from Central Asia, which amounts for 62% of all patients; but also from Eastern Europe (32%), South and East Asia (5%).^[16] In addition to price and accessibility of complex manipulations, the difference in regulations between Russia and the clients' own nations is a driving factor for receiving care in Russia: for instance, in vitro fertilization is illegal in China, but legal in Russia.^[15]

Religious tourism has two main subtypes: pilgrimage, as travel done for religious or spiritual purposes, and the viewing of religious monuments and artefacts, as a kind of sightseeing. The former is relatively insignificant for the Russian tourism industry, amounting for approximately 100 thousands pilgrims yearly.^[17] The latter is more important. Orthodox Christianity being the most common religion in Russia, it also accounts for most religious monuments across the country.

• Domes of Sobornaya Square in Moscow Kremlin
• The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
• The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius
• The Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces
• The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl
• Rostov Kremlin
• Saint Isaac's Cathedral
• The Valaam Monastery

Multiple pieces of Islamic religious architectural art are scattered across the country, from mosques to maqāms. They are mostly clustered in the historically Muslim regions.

• Moscow Cathedral Mosque
• The Saint Petersburg Mosque
• Perm Mosque
• The Kul Sharif Mosque in Kazan
• Bulgar Mosque
• Lala Tulpan in Ufa
• The Juma Mosque in Derbent built 736
• The Heart of Chechnya mosque

Russia has a Buddhist minority, notably in Kalmykia.^[18]

• The Datsan Gunzechoinei in St.Petersburg
• The Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume in Elista
• Ivolginsky Datsan in Buryatia
• Sagaan Ubgen statue on Big Bogdo mountain sacred site in Astrakhan Oblast

In 2013, 27 million international tourists arrived in Russia, generating US$11.2 billion in international tourism revenue for the country.^[19] Including domestic and international tourism, the industry directly contributed RUB860 billion to the Russian GDP and supported 966,500 jobs in the country.^[20]

However, only 200,100 foreigners visited Russia in 2022, a drop of 96.1 percent.^[1]

Visitor statistics

According to the Border Service of the Federal Security Service and the Federal State Statistics Service, most visitors arriving to Russia were from the following countries of nationality:^[21][22]

Visitor statistics 2024-2021

Visa statistics

Most electronic visas were issued for citizens of the following countries (top-10):

Most visas were issued in the following countries:

• Visa policy of Russia
• Russian culture
• List of museums in Russia
• List of World Heritage Sites in Russia
• Wildlife of Russia

• Moscow City Guide at the official website of the Mayor of Moscow
• St Petersburg Official City Guide
• Karelia Tourist Portal (Solovetsky Islands, Kizhi)
• Guide to the Golden Ring of Russia
• Tatarstan Official Guide(including Kazan)
• Official Rosa Khutor Guide (ski resorts in Sochi)
• Baikal Tourist Guide
• Vladivostok City Guide
• (in Russian) Federal Agency for Tourism
• Cheboksary tourist portal Archived 13 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine