More and more, touristic flows from China to Russia are in the news. According to reports, more than 400,000 Chinese visited Russian in 2014 alone, and the most recent numbers show double this many tourists.
Russian tourism is thriving and the amount of Chinese tourists arriving to Russia is growing exponentially.
Chinese travelers listed Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk, and Kazan as their most desireable destinations in 2014. But other destinations like Sochi and even Crimea are showing up on the Chinese vacation radar these days. As for typical travel trends for China tour seekers, so called “Red tourism” has become all the rage, as Chinese tourists are drawn to visiting revolutionary attractions in countries like Russia. Here in Germany, the childhood home of Karl Marx in nearby Trier is inundated daily with visitors from Beijing and other China cities.
Red tourism is not a trend, the Chinese government has been promoting it since the early 2000s. The country has invested more than $1.3 billion to build the new tourism dynamic. RT reported recently that over one million tourists from China visited Russia in 2015, spending nearly $1 billion. And the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) has an agreement to develop so-called ‘red tourism’ with the Ulyanovsk Lenin Memorial Museum.
So, given the rise of resorts like those in Sochi, greater cooperation between the Russian and Chinese leadership, and the value of the relative currencies, Russia will continue to thrive as a touristic choice for Chinese travelers.
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Looks like Phil Butler is an RT or Sputnik apologist rather than a serious journalist.
This is not news as so much repeating the Russian governments line that their destruction of the tourism from "the west" can be replaced by a better one from the friendly east (love the slip in mention of tourism to Crimea Phil - pat on the head for that one).
The Chinese numbers (both volume and revenue) are pathetic, considering that Russia is right next door to China, the wealth of Chinese tourists and number of Chinese tourists visiting Europe generally.
The Russian official number of "tourists" also now include a huge number of business people visiting the far east / Siberia to sell cheap goods - not for tourism.
The "surge" in 2015 can be mainly down to the massive devaluation of the Rouble, due to government incompetence, making Russia a cheap place to visit and the political move of the Russians government to cancel visas for groups of 10 or more Chinese (because terrorists don't travel in groups).
According to the industry figures, not the Russian government ones, the genuine Chinese tourists visiting Russia are low value, travel in herds, book directly through their own agents, spend less and bring significantly less into the economy than western tourists.
The Russian government has ignored tourism and other parts of the economy all through the Putin years, they are not serious about it now. They are just trying, and use people like Phil, to show how good things are in Russia and how they can do without the west.
I am serious about people having their say. You had yours Chris.
I also think anybody who is fair should evaluate things from both perspectives. If you read my articles before focusing on Eastern Europe, you'll probably find more of your slant on things. I have no obligation to explain to you, or to apologize, but I do care about these issues. So...
Anyone, in my opinion, who cannot see the propaganda maelstrom from western media these last three years... is.... either a complete fool or a sellout. I went on RT TV 6 hours before the Sochi Olympics to say my piece about fairness to Russia and to all of sport. Sadly, my government and the media attached to it had no intention of being fair. That was February 2014, the day afterward no media outlet from The Epoch Times to the Huffington Post would even entertain carrying a story by me, despite my having given them free traffic for years.
From the Prague Post to Japan, business journals to intermediate news, me and dissenters like me were abolished from western media. I have emails from key journalists at places like Forbes telling me of their harassment. And I mean "KEY" journalist. Furthermore, I have prima fascia evidence many of these magazine and newspaper "journalists" get paid under the table to write what corporations or paying companies want. The graft and collusion going on in western media dwarfs anything you can imagine.
Yes, I try and tell the good side of Russia. Any what would you have me tell dear patriot? Do you need another BBC or Reuters to tell you what you expect or want to hear? What you suggest in your comment is both ignorant and biased. Sure, maybe Putin and Medvedev have other things more important than tourism on their minds. And how about "DUH" on China being next door to Russia??? WTF has that to do with anything if they visit Crimea??? People like "me" are the only thing showing any Russian that the world is not made up of stupid, ignorant Nazis... in case you wonder about the PEOPLE of Russia, rather than a leader your pals have decided they hate.
Can you tell I am getting upset here? Well I am. People like you are part of the problem Chris. Let's pretend I am right in saying this. What I mean is, the same powers that have Christians and Muslims about to re-enact the Crusades for money, they count on people like you to toe the part line. Now let's further pretend you and everybody else who can read does this. What does this equal? Total control, correct? Part-of-the-problem or world chaos and suffering, not part of the solution Chris.
Now you may not like my take here, but guess what? What I own is no a democracy. I am the Vladimir Putin of this freaking website. So be nice, STFU, or go away. You decide.