Russia (bbabo.net), - By the end of 2021, Russia resumed flights with more than 60 countries, but only about 20 countries are available to tourists. At the beginning of the past year, experts shared their views on which countries will be the first to open. The easiest way to predict the opening of Greece.
Russia began to resume international flights on a parity basis in August 2020. By early 2021, flights with Turkey, Tanzania, Great Britain, Switzerland, UAE, Maldives, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, South Korea, Serbia, Cuba, Japan, Ethiopia, Seychelles were resumed. Half of these countries began to receive tourists, although charter flights operated only in the Turkish direction. Against this background, experts expressed their hopes that in 2021 it will be possible to defeat the pandemic, and Russia will fully resume international air traffic. But these predictions, alas, did not come true.
On the other hand, the forecast that the demanded resort areas of the Mediterranean Sea will be the first to be opened was at least partially realized. Italy and Spain are still closed to tourists. But other countries of the region - Greece, Cyprus, Portugal began to receive guests. President of the National Union of the Hospitality Industry Alexei Volkov (in January 2021 - Vice President) noted that, most likely, the first countries to open would be countries whose citizens can use an electronic visa to travel to Russia. In this list, for example, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, France. Air traffic with these countries was resumed, but they did not officially accept tourists, except for Greece. That is, Russian citizens can enter these countries, but not for tourist purposes and subject to a number of conditions.
In part, the experts managed to predict the opening of the countries of Southeast Asia. Thailand and Vietnam were named as the first countries in the region to resume flights. Russia resumed flights with Vietnam at the end of January 2021, and with Thailand in November 2021. These countries accept Russian tourists, albeit with special conditions. For example, vaccinated tourists (including "Sputnik V") or with a certificate of postponed COVID-19 can enter Vietnam and only on package tours. You also need a visa invitation, which is issued by the tour operator seven days in advance. At the same time, tourists cannot leave the territory of their hotels. In Thailand, tourists can enter vaccinated tourists only in certain regions. In this case, a PCR test is passed.
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