The total number of foreigners entering Russia has grown due to labor migrants

In the first half of the year, the number of foreigners who came to Russia increased by more than 20% year-on-year, the FSB Border Service reported. Although the flow is still half of the pre-pandemic one, the recovery of the inbound tourism market due to the countries of Asia and the Middle East, the growing number of private trips of residents of European border countries and a sharp increase in the number of migrants from Central Asia have become obvious factors.

In the first half of the year, foreigners made 7.2 million trips to Russia, which is 22.5% more year-on-year, according to data published on July 31 by the FSB Border Service. But the figure is still half that of the first half of pre-crisis 2019 (15.1 million people). The number of trips directly for tourist purposes in January-June in physical terms amounted to 187.8 thousand people, which is 130.4% more year-on-year, but 90.5% less than in 2019.

• The main inbound tourist flow to the Russian Federation, according to the FSB Border Service, comes from China – 32.3 thousand trips, Turkish citizens are in second place (20.5 thousand), Germany is in third place (17.5 thousand).
• Tourists from Iran (9.2 thousand trips, a fourfold increase), India (5.1 thousand, an increase of 46%), the United Arab Emirates (5 thousand, a twofold increase) and Israel began to travel more actively to Russia ( 4.3 thousand, an increase of 2.8 times).
• Most of the usual European destinations showed a decline.
• Border countries became an exception: the number of trips from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania increased sharply in the first half of the year.

According to Sergey Romashkin, CEO of the Dolphin tour operator, EU citizens are now increasingly coming to Russia for “private or humanitarian purposes”, while the flow of classic travelers from Asia and the Middle East is showing a steady positive trend. The expert connects the trend with the lifting of pandemic restrictions in China, which has traditionally formed the largest number of trips to Russia. “If last year tourists were frightened by the fact that bank cards of Western payment systems do not work in the country, now they have started using Union Pay,” he notes. The expert expects an increase in the number of inbound tourist flows to the Russian Federation by three to four times in July-December due to the start of work on August 1 of the system of electronic visas.

The total number of foreigners entering Russia has grown largely due to the countries that traditionally provide the flow of labor migrants.

• Thus, according to the estimates of the Border Service of the FSB, 1.4 million people arrived from Kazakhstan in the first half of the year, which is 42% higher year on year.
• The flow from Uzbekistan increased by 83% over the year, to 1.7 million people, from Tajikistan – by 55%, to 1.07 million, from Kyrgyzstan – by 61%, to 510.9 thousand people.

Professor of the Faculty of Anthropology Sergey Abashin admits that we are talking about the restoration of the entry of labor migrants after the “drawdown caused by the pandemic.” Although the expert does not see any noticeable incentives for their influx: “The fall of the ruble reduces the cost of labor, and some migrants do not go to the country due to the political situation.”

President of the Association of Gardeners Igor Mukhanin confirms that the influx of labor migrants from neighboring countries in the agricultural sector is growing. According to him, the flow of foreign workers, reduced due to restrictions during the pandemic, began to recover back in 2022, and today the situation has generally returned to normal. Although the managing partner of Prime Life Development, Denis Konovalenko, notes that developers are still forced to compete for labor.

According to the results of the first half of the year, the Russians themselves made a total of 11.7 million trips abroad, which is 37.9% more than a year earlier, but 45% less than before the pandemic, according to data from the FSB Border Service.

4.1 million trips were made directly for the purpose of tourism, which is 75.5% more year-on-year, but 48.3% less than in 2019. Turkey (1.7 million, growth by 62.2%), UAE (678.4 thousand, growth by 96.4%), Egypt (462 thousand, growth by 33.4%), Thailand (423 thousand), Armenia (209 thousand, double growth).

Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin draws attention to the fact that the outbound flow in the first half of the year showed a positive trend, despite the volatility of the national currency. According to him, the tourism industry is also seeing a recovery in activity in parts of European destinations, for example, to Montenegro and Cyprus. But these data are not included in official statistics due to the lack of direct flights.

Alexandra Mertsalova, Daria Andrianova, Anatoly Kostyrev