Electronic visas and payment cards for foreign tourists will be launched this year

Electronic visas and payment cards for foreign tourists will be launched as early as 2023, Tatyana Sharshavitskaya, head of the tourism development department of the Ministry of Economic Development, said.

Speaking at the Fifth Congress of Travel Agencies, she explained that the purpose of the measures is to stimulate the incoming tourist flow to our country. Travelers, according to her, are now stopped by the lack of payment instruments due to the withdrawal of Visa and MasterCard from the Russian Federation.

The solution of the problem of payments is at the final stage. “The so-called “Tourist Card” will work,” Sharshavitskaya is sure. The bill on the remote identification of a citizen, according to her, “enters the spring session,” that is, it will soon be considered by parliamentarians.

A foreign citizen, therefore, will be able to receive a card at the place of his main residence. And then it will be possible, for example, to book a hotel room from your country. Arriving in Russia, a foreign tourist will use the card as a payment instrument.

The Government of the Russian Federation instructed a number of departments to develop a “Guest Card” for tourists based on the Russian payment system “Mir”, the Ministry of Economic Development has been identified as responsible. The appearance of such a card, along with the launch of an electronic visa, according to tour operators, will allow restarting inbound tourism to Russia.