Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhua) — According to statistics, the number of visits to the recently held Moscow Seasons in Beijing festival exceeded 2.85 million people, the press service of the Moscow City Tourism Committee reported.
The event took place from June 12 to 15 in the Chinese capital in honor of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relations between Beijing and Moscow. At the festival site, the Russian tourist information pavilion became one of the most attractive sites.
Cutting-edge technologies such as 3D modeling offered Chinese visitors innovative ways to experience Russia. A digital twin of Moscow allowed the public to immerse themselves in the Russian capital, showing details of the city’s architectural assemblies, utility networks, and transportation systems.
“This device gives an incredibly realistic effect. It’s a fantastic way to see iconic Russian landmarks from afar,” said Chinese visitor Hou Wen after enjoying the panorama of Red Square.
“Chinese tourists have shown a huge interest in Russia,” said festival volunteer Oksana Yakimashenko, who is also a Moscow-based Chinese-speaking guide, helping visitors put on VR goggles for a fascinating virtual tour of Moscow.
Oksana also introduced Xu Bo, a Beijing native who plans to take an in-depth tour of Russia with his wife after retiring in two years, to Russia’s tourist routes. “We prefer to travel by train rather than by plane because we don’t want to miss any of the scenery along the way,” Xu Bo said, adding that he will definitely visit Moscow and St. Petersburg.
According to Oksana, in recent years she has received more and more travelers from China, many of whom consider Moscow a beautiful city.
The close ties between the two cities are clearly reflected in the growing number of tourist exchanges. According to available information, China ranks first among foreign countries in the number of tourists visiting the Russian capital. In 2024 alone, Moscow was visited by more than 420,000 guests from China.
According to the Beijing City Administration of Culture and Tourism, Beijing received 293,000 tourists from Russia last year, and over 175,000 Russian tourists visited the Chinese capital in the first five months of this year. Among foreign travelers who visited Beijing during the same period, Russians ranked first.
As noted by the First Deputy Head of the Office of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow, Chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee Evgeny Kozlov, in order to increase the attractiveness of Moscow as a tourist destination, the multifaceted strategy includes significant investments in the development of transport infrastructure, urban navigation, hotel services and the digital environment for the sake of a comfortable stay for tourists.
According to E. Kozlov, in order to raise awareness of Moscow among Chinese travelers, we actively promote the capital’s official accounts in popular Chinese social networks – Douyin, WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Weibo. An important step was the opening of an official page on the Ctrip platform in 2024, where both individual and group tours to Moscow are presented, he added.
Zheng Fang, deputy director of the Beijing City Culture and Tourism Bureau, said Beijing is offering foreign tourists the Beijing Pass, a card designed to enhance their tourism experience in the Chinese capital.
The card, which can be purchased at the Beijing Service counters at Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing International Airports, facilitates the process of paying for public transportation, purchasing tickets at tourist attractions, and shopping at shopping malls. In addition, foreign visitors can use it to purchase tickets to 30 popular tourist attractions in Beijing, including parks such as Yiheyuan, Tiantan (Temple of Heaven), and the Badaling section of the Great Wall.
“I am confident that in the future, tourism exchanges between Beijing and Moscow will be able to steadily expand and demonstrate an even stronger development trend,” Zheng Fang concluded. -0-