American travelers named prices for tours to Russia: cooler than Miami

On the eve of the May holidays, Russians complain about the rise in price of domestic resorts and the high cost of tickets to the sea. Meanwhile, some foreigners, on the contrary, decided to spend their May holidays in Russia. We found out exactly where they are heading and what arguments they have in favor of a Russian vacation.

Since the beginning of the year, the Russian Federation has issued about 145,000 visas to foreign citizens – as of mid-April, these figures are quoted by the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Citizens of China are in the lead in requests for Russian visas: after the removal of COVID-19 restrictions by the PRC on February 6, more than 52,000 visas were issued to them.

49 thousand were requested and received by EU citizens.

Since the beginning of 2023, US citizens have received only 1,000 Russian visas, almost all of them are tourist or private. According to the consular department, in comparison with pre-pandemic indicators, today Russian visa requests are about five times less, but mainly due to business visits, while interest in tourist trips around our country remains. Where are foreign tourists heading to and how much do Russian vacations cost them?

“Many Americans would like to visit Kamchatka or Sakhalin,” says a Russian-speaking US visa broker who helps with obtaining Russian visas. – But, unfortunately, the length of stay is very limited, so tourists from the United States do not have time even to Siberia and the Urals, not to mention the most remote points. Only those who have received private visas at the invitation of the Russians go there, and organized tourists according to the standard program – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi or Yalta in the summer.

“Your visa cost me $160,” says a New Yorker who is about to visit Russia. – I also had to pay extra to an intermediary, independently collect and execute all the documents for the Russian consulate to approve, it is very difficult for the Americans now. With this visa, I can stay in Russia for two weeks.

In general, the trip is expensive. Tickets to Moscow and back are more than $2,000, and these are the cheapest, with an inconvenient transfer in Casablanca. Two days on the road one way in total. A hotel in Moscow $280 per day, this is a good hotel in the center, I decided to splurge on it, since I will only be in Moscow for two days. A hotel in Yalta is $90 per night, it’s not cheaper, since I get to the May holidays.

– Such difficulties in order to just relax?

– For the amount spent in Miami, I would have rested on the highest level. But I want to go to Russia – I am a historian, and it is interesting for me to observe the course of history from the inside. By the way, the visa intermediary did not advise me to say this at an interview at the consulate, so that they would not think that I was a spy. But I said so, but they still gave me a visa.

But tourists from South Korea, who planned to visit Russia also for the May holidays, say with some resentment that the Russian Federation is preparing an agreement on mutual “visa-free travel” only with China, although it would be no less profitable with South Korea.

– We have long dreamed of driving along the Golden Ring of Russia, – shares a resident of Seoul, Lee Chung Ja. – But these tours have always been too expensive, and now they are not in great demand and have become a little cheaper, so we rushed to buy. The initiator was my sister, she lives in China and often visited Russia on business before the pandemic. But in the end, she also refused the trip, having learned that there would soon be a visa-free regime for Chinese citizens, and for 21 days.

This is very convenient, since my sister used to enter Russia through Vladivostok on a simplified visa, but she could not make it through the Golden Ring, since the visa was given for a very short time. Now my sister will be waiting, and my husband and I will go along the Golden Ring in mid-May. It still turned out to be expensive: together with a visa and tickets, we spent almost $ 10,000 for two in 10 days.

An elderly couple from Vienna, who have already been to Russia more than once and love it, were invited by Russian friends to spend their May holidays in Sochi together. However, everything was not as simple as before the pandemic.

– At first we wanted to get a private visa, as before, – says the Austrian Annette. – Russian friends sent an invitation, but it turned out that the procedure has become much longer, by May we will not have time to accurately and easily request a tourist visa – this is what the mediator in Vienna told us. A tourist visa, together with the services of an intermediary, cost us 100 euros per person, formally it is valid from 1 to 30 days, but in fact strictly for the duration of the trip, which must be confirmed by air tickets and hotel reservations.

In order not to fly with complicated transfers, we decided to travel by car. But it turns out that now you can’t get a visa at a land checkpoint either, you have to submit documents to the consulate in advance.

But the main disappointment of the Austrians, who had already gone through all the visa ups and downs, was the price of their favorite hotel, for which they went to Sochi: before the pandemic, a night in it cost around 7 thousand rubles, depending on the class of the room and the view from the window, and now – more than 30 thousand rubles.