The number of tourist trips from China to Russia is soaring – as a result of Beijing’s spat with Tokyo. But people Di spoke to in the Chinese city of Shenzhen are not keen on choosing Russia over Japan.
Over 600,000 trips from China to Japan are believed to have been canceled since the conflict between the two Asian countries flared up just over two weeks ago, while a dozen Chinese airlines have canceled their routes to Japan.
Instead, it is controlled Now the trend for Chinese travelers is moving to another neighboring country – Russia.
The number of hotel bookings for December made by Chinese people in Russia increased by just over 50 percent, compared to the same period last year, according to figures from Singapore-based research firm China Trading Desk.
At the same time, several Chinese travel agencies report that they have noticed an increased interest in trips to Russia. The Russian ski resorts are said to be good alternatives to Japanese winter destinations such as Hokkaido. Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok are also reported to be popular destinations.
The increase is also an effect of the recent introduction of visa-free travel between China and Russia, another sign of the increasingly strong economic and diplomatic ties between Beijing and Moscow.
”This will definitely be a good and positive 'explosion' in the development of our relations,’ said Russian President Vladimir Putin when the visa-free travel was announced in November.
In the days following the announcement of visa-free travel, searches for Russian destinations on Chinese travel platforms increased severalfold compared to the week before, according to both state-controlled Chinese and Russian media.
Source:Di:SE
