China vigorously attracts tourists： there is a discount on the consumption of services in Chinese.

　　International Online Report (Reporter He Yuyang): On May 20th, the Russian Tourism Agency and the Russian National Tourism Marketing Center, a joint venture of the Russian Federation, held a Russian tourism promotion conference at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Hall. Dozens of Russian enterprises and tourist agencies, including comprehensive shopping malls, convalescent centers, business and entertainment centers, participated in the exhibition.

　　In an interview with an international online reporter, several Russian delegates said that the devaluation of the ruble and visa concessions are the main stimulating factors for the surge of tourists from China to Russia in recent years. In addition, China has launched many special services and exclusive discounts for tourists, and many enterprises have started to hire Chinese-speaking employees to explore the tourism market in China through various methods.

　　Visa preference and devaluation of ruble make Russian tour warm up.

　　The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) previously released a report saying that since 2004, China has been the country with the largest overseas tourism consumption. In 2015, China tourists spent 292 billion US dollars during their overseas travel. In terms of number, the number of overseas tourists from China increased by 15% in 2015, reaching 128 million.

　　Korneev Sergey, Deputy Director of the Russian Federation Tourism Agency, said in his speech at the promotion meeting that the whole world is striving for tourists from China, and Russia is no exception. Since 2014, the largest source country of Russian tourism has become China, which was previously German. In order to attract tourists from China, the Russian government has specially introduced preferential visa policies for tourists from China. According to the simplified visa agreement reached between Russia and China, a tourist team of 5 to 50 people can enter the country visa-free and stay for up to 30 days.

　　You Liya A. Mokhova, general manager of "Russian National Tourism Marketing Center", told international online reporters that apart from the preferential visa policy, the more important factor that caused the Russian tour to heat up in China was the devaluation of the ruble. Russia is the closest European country to China. Apart from visiting historical sites and feeling Russian culture, after the devaluation of the ruble, foreign tourists are particularly cheap in purchasing world famous brands and Russian goods compared with other European countries.

　　She added that in terms of visa concessions, since 2014, China has granted visa-free access to Russian tourists in transit, stipulating that Russian citizens can stay in China for 72 hours.

　　China people prefer traditional Russian tourist routes.

　　According to You Liya, in order to further attract tourists from China, the Russian Tourism Marketing Center set up a representative office in Beijing in October 2015, and plans to set up a representative office in Shanghai this year, so as to introduce more Russian tourist destinations to travel agencies in China. She pointed out that China people currently visit the traditional Russian tourist resort — — Moscow and St. Petersburg, but Russia has a vast territory and many other places worth visiting.

　　You Liya said that China and Russia are traditional friendly countries. Influenced by historical factors, most of the people who travel to Russia at present are middle-aged and elderly people. They are a generation with good feelings and memories of the "former Soviet Union". Therefore, they specially designed military tourist routes and red tourist routes for China tourists, but generally speaking, China people prefer traditional tourist routes.

　　Since 2014, the "Russian Tourism Marketing Center" has launched the "China Friendly China" project, guiding qualified Russian member companies willing to join the project to open Chinese web pages, and requiring member companies to provide Chinese waiters, Chinese guides, Chinese breakfast, UnionPay credit cards, free Wi-Fi, boiled water and teacups, etc., in order to provide more comfortable and caring services for China tourists. At present, the members include hotels, shopping centers, jewelry factories, museums, restaurants and so on.

　　You Liya said that Beijing is the first stop of this round of China promotion conference. Next, Russian tourism promotion conferences will be held in Hongkong, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

　　Russians can enjoy exclusive discounts when shopping in China.

　　Tsum (Central Department Store) is one of the Russian enterprises that came to attend the Beijing Promotion Conference. Irakli Kenjia, deputy director of the commerce department of Tsum, said in an interview with an international online reporter that Tsum is the largest luxury shopping mall in Russia, specializing in luxury shopping. The consumption of China people in Tsum will increase by about 30% every year. In 2015, China tourists spent about US$ 5 million in Tsum, an increase of 45% compared with 2014.

　　Kenga said that they have joined the "Friendly China" project, hired 60 employees who can speak Chinese, published Chinese web pages, and all signs and navigation in the mall are equipped with Chinese translators, and supported UnionPay payment. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Tsum has launched an exclusive discount for China tourists, that is, all items are given a 10% discount at checkout.

　　Vaganov Egor, the sales manager of Moscow Jewelry Factory, said that their biggest customer at present is Russian. In 2015, China people’s consumption only accounted for about 1% of the company’s total turnover, which was about 10 million RMB. The goal this year is to increase the consumption ratio of China tourists to 5%. In order to attract tourists from China, they are seeking cooperation with China Travel Agency, publishing Chinese web pages, and increasing publicity and promotion on social media in China.

　　Yeager also said that they have launched a special discount for tourists from China, and China citizens will enjoy a 15% discount on all diamonds and jewelry purchased in the store.

　　China tourists hope to lower the visa fee for individual tourists.

　　Zhao Xiaohong, manager of the Russian Department of China Swan International Travel Company, said in an interview with an international online reporter that she has been taking the Russian route for more than ten years. In recent years, the number of tourists from China to Russia has indeed increased, and she has personal feelings about it.

　　According to her introduction, the tourist season in Russia is generally from May to September. Because winter in Russia is very cold, winter is the off-season for Russian tourism. Zhao Xiaohong said that she learned a lot about Russian tourist cities that she didn’t know much about before, such as Tyumen City. Especially at the promotion meeting, the exclusive service provided for China tourists was introduced by Rose Manor, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the railway route specially launched by Russian Railway Tour was suitable for Russian tourists to travel all over Russia. She was very interested and said that she would join her recommendation list.

　　However, Zhao Xiaohong believes that the current personal visa fee in Russia is still too high, close to 800 yuan/person. China tourists who travel to Russia are mostly middle-aged and elderly people, so many tourists come to consult and say that the visa fee is too high. Although Russia has introduced a visa-free policy for teams in China, the visa-free team must be led by a professional team leader who meets special qualifications, which invisibly increases the cost of travel agencies. "So I hope Russia can introduce more favorable policies on visas," Zhao Xiaohong said.