Russia sees slight decrease in foreign tourists: official

The number of tourists visiting Russia has only registered a slight decline of 5.3 percent despite Western sanctions, Yevgeny Ivanov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular department, said Tuesday.

Russian consular offices issued 1.147 million tourist visas in 2015, a decline of 5.3 percent from the year 2014. "We were expecting much less tourists due to Western sanctions against Russia, but the figures remained almost the same as in 2014," Ivanov said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Meanwhile, the number of Asian tourists has increased gradually, indicating that Asians are becoming increasingly interested in Russia, he added.

He also said that the number of visas issued is not the main indicator of how popular a tourist destination is, because a significant number of foreign citizens enters Russia on a visa-free basis or with a long-term visa.

"Applicants from the United States and Europe could obtain a three-year, multiple-entry visa. The number of approved multiple-entry visas for European citizens is on the rise," the official said.

He also expressed the hope that Russia could resume its visa-free regime negotiations with the European Union. Endi