Visa-free travel for Indian visitors to Moscow could be coming as early as spring 2025, according to officials, in a bid to capitalise on growing numbers of mostly business tourists headed to Russia from India and further Moscow’s position as a corporate and events travel hub.
The Chair of Moscow’s City Tourism Committee, Evgeny Kozlov, said the decision had been taken and an agreement “is now under development” which is expected to mean that “the numbers of travelers from India to the Russian capital will significantly increase.”
No Visa, No Problem: Indians To Travel To Moscow Visa-Free From Spring 2025
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 29, 2024
“Indians will be able to explore the capital in organised groups under the agreement, which “is now under development,” Moscow City Tourism Committee Chair Evgeny Kozlov said. pic.twitter.com/z3ZUKQ6Snf
Upward trend in Indian visitors to Moscow
Speaking to the Economic Times, Kozlov noted an upward trend over the last two years in visitors from India to Moscow, making the vast South Asian republic already one of the foremost source countries for incoming guests. “Over the entire year, more than 60,000 travellers from India visited the Russian capital, which also exceeded the figures for 2022 by 26 percent,” he said.
Indian nationals have been able to apply for an e-visa for Russia since 1 August 2023. Usually deliverable within four days, it is a move that has clearly helped to drive up travel.
“In 2023, India entered the list of leaders in terms of the number of travelers coming to Moscow among non-CIS countries,” Kozlov said. “India entered the top five countries in terms of the volume of e-visas issued. In total, Indians were issued 9,500 thousand electronic visas, which is 6 percent of the total number of electronic visas received by foreigners to visit Russia.”
Moscow a hub for MICE?
And data from the first half of 2024 suggest the pattern is continuing. In the first quarter, India placed in the top three non-Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries for the number of business tourists it sends to Moscow. Over the first two quarters of the year, 28,500 Indian visitors went to Moscow, which Kozlov said is on track to beat 2023’s numbers by fifty percent.
Russian officials are pitching Moscow as “an important centre” for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events), as well as for destination Indian weddings. Plans are in place to ensure the city has 25,700 rooms by 2030.
To fill those, as well as working on the new agreement with India, which commentators agree continues to be a significant target market for Moscow, Russian officials have their eye on new visa arrangements under negotiation with nine different African and Middle Eastern states to drive economic development.
