Visitors pose for photos with a giant panda doll at the Moscow Zoo in Moscow, Russia, on July 30, 2025. The Moscow Zoo held an event to celebrate giant panda Dingding's eighth birthday on Wednesday. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)

The searches for flights departing from Moscow on Qunar increased by nearly 100 percent week-on-year, with the instantaneous search volume hitting nearly four times the usual amount, data from the online travel platform sent to the Global Times showed on Tuesday. 

Among these, flights from Moscow to Beijing were the most searched, with an average fare of 1,415 yuan ($198) including taxes, the platform said. 

The data came after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday that from September 15, 2025 to September 14, 2026, ordinary Russia passport holders will be allowed to enter China without a visa for business, tourism, family visit, exchange, and transit stay of up to 30 days.

Guo said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia relations have been operating at a high level. China places great importance on facilitating personnel exchanges between the two countries and supports enhanced interactions between their peoples, actively contributing to the advancement of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era. 

"We welcome more Russian friends to visit China often and regularly," the spokesperson added.

Based on inbound travel data from this summer, Qunar's figures show that Russia is among the top three source countries for inbound tourists flocking to China. With the new visa-free policy, the number of inbound tourists from Russia is expected to increase significantly, the platform said. 

Data from leading online travel agency Trip.com reveals that Russia was one of the top five source markets for inbound tourism to China during the recently concluded summer travel season, the Global Times has learned.

Since July, inbound travel bookings from Russia on the Trip.com platform have surged by 150 percent year-on-year.

Qin Jing, vice president of Trip.com Group, emphasized that Russia is not only a key inbound tourism market for China, but also a close neighbor linked by shared mountains and rivers, as well as a vital member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

She added that China's newly implemented trial visa-free policy will significantly facilitate travel between the two countries and strongly promote deeper integration in cultural exchange and mutual learning. This initiative is expected to open up new prospects for two-way tourism and further stimulate China's inbound tourism market.


Global Times