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MOSCOW, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Visa-free tourist exchange between Russia and China rose dramatically in the first five months of this year, Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism said Friday.
A total of 130,100 Chinese tourists visited Russia in the January-May period of this year under the visa-free exchange program, which was a 50 percent increase year-on-year, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, the number of Russian tourists visiting China reached 89,600 in the same period, tantamount to a 40 percent rise year-on-year, it added.
"The number of tourists from China to Russia exceeded 1 million last year for the first time, and this year it will be even bigger," the head of the agency, Oleg Safonov, said.
Safonov believes that the rise resulted from an increase in the number of tour operators working within the framework of the intergovernmental agreement on visa-free travel which was signed in 2000 and amended in 2006.
The agency said China has approved a new list of Russian tour operators authorized to implement visa-free travel, which covers 363 companies including 134 first-time participants.
