Prashant Chaudhary, Managing Director, Salvia Promoters – Visit St. Petersburg’s official partner in India
Russia’s cultural capital, St. Petersburg has introduced free e-visa facility for nationals of 53 countries including India starting today (October 1, 2019).
Indian visitors can now avail single-entry tourist, business and humanitarian visa from the comfort of their office or home. The online application for free e-visa takes four days to process and one needs to apply 20 days prior to the date of travel.
Visit St. Petersburg’s official partner in India and Managing Director of Salvia Promoters, Prashant Chaudhary said, “Making available free e-visa facility for the Indian travellers keen to explore Russia’s cultural capital St. Petersburg is a testimony to the region’s commitment to improve bilateral tourism ties.”
“This new initiative is particularly targeted at markets like India that has massive untapped potential for St. Petersburg and its surrounding. The city is one of the finest tourism destinations in the whole of Europe,” he added.
The e-visa will be valid for a period of 30 days and allows visitors to stay for a period of eight days. This visa is valid only for Leningrad region, home to Russia’s most sought after tourism hotspot, St. Petersburg. The move is expected to give a boost to Indian arrivals to Russia, and particularly to St. Petersburg.
However, India and Russia are currently connected by Aeroflot’s double-daily operations between New Delhi and Moscow that limits the scope of free e-visa as the destination is currently not on the list of e-visa entry points.
Chaudhary informed that the Russian government is working towards making the entire country ready to welcome tourists travelling on e-visas including Moscow.
“Also there are the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Middle East carriers like Air Astana, Qatar, Emirates, among others that directly connect major Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai directly to St. Petersburg through their respective hubs,” he added.
Visit St. Petersburg opened its India office in New Delhi in June 2017 followed by an office in Mumbai later that year coinciding with the 50th year celebration of St. Petersburg and Mumbai as the twin-city. Visit St. Petersburg is represented in India by Salvia Promoters, a destination and tourism marketing company with offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.