Foreign tourist arrivals in Moscow up 10%

The tourist flow of foreigners to the Russian capital gained 10% year on year in the first half of 2025, the Moscow Tourism Committee's press service said.

"Number of tourists that came to Moscow from non-CIS countries in the first six months of 2025 increased 10% compared with the same period of last year and totaled half a million," the press service said.

China ranked first by the number of guests, India surpassed Turkey and climbed to the second position, and Vietnam and Saudi Arabia joined the top five. Tourists from Iran, the UAE and Cuba also visited Moscow.

"There has been a steep increase from certain states... For instance, 1.3 times more visitors came to the capital from Saudi Arabia than in the respective period of 2024. Tourist arrivals grew almost ten times since 2019," the statement reads.

The number of Indian tourists increased by 40%, tourist arrivals from Vietnam was up by 20% over the past six months.

It was noted that 94% of rooms in quality hotels booked by foreign tourists in summer were occupied by tourists from non-CIS states, 55% of them from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India and Oman.