Economy, Tourism

For most of the Communist era the Soviet government was suspicious of foreign tourism, especially travel from the USSR to the capitalist countries of the West. However, the government encouraged foreign tourists to visit the USSR because tourism in Russia provided a significant source of foreign exchange and could sometimes serve political aims. At the height of tourism, the annual number of foreign visitors to the USSR totaled about 7 million people, with slightly more than half coming from the countries of Eastern Europe. Although significant, this flow of tourists and tourism revenue was far smaller than comparable flows to the United States and the major Western European countries. The Soviet government also endorsed the idea of domestic tourism, and each year millions of Soviet citizens visited parts of the country remote from their own homes, especially the capital city of Moscow.

Post-Soviet Russia has numerous attractions that draw foreign visitors. Primary cultural attractions include the old imperial retreats near Saint Petersburg, the Old Town of Novgorod, the Golden Ring of medieval towns surrounding Moscow, and many museums, galleries, theaters, and architectural points of interest in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Resorts on the Black Sea are popular with both foreign and domestic tourists, as are cruises along the Volga River. Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake in the world and the home of many unique animal and plant species, draws numerous visitors each year.

Foreign travel to Russia plunged after the collapse of the USSR but rebounded sharply in the mid-1990s. The number of foreign visitors was 21.2 million in 2000. Despite the recent construction of Western-owned hotels in major cities, the infrastructure of the tourist industry remains underdeveloped, and this is likely to prevent the expansion of foreign tourism to the levels enjoyed by some Western countries. Nevertheless, the present volume of tourism is a significant source of foreign exchange at a time of national economic hardship.