Russia has lost 500 billion rubles of tourist income because of the borders' closure

- According to the results of the last year, tourism brought the country $ 10.9 billion, which is comparable to the income from the export of arms, a number of non-ferrous metals, timber. According to our estimates, the losses amounted to about 500 billion rubles, - said Doguzova in an interview with newspaper Argumenti i Fakty.

She called e-visas for foreign tourists a historic solution. She indicated that this measure will allow the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to recover from the crisis caused by the pandemic "given the enormous contribution of tourism to job creation".

- The visa is still single-entry, but we expect that over time the issue of making it multiple-entry will be considered, - noted Doguzova.

Let us recall that the Russian Federation has increased the number of border checkpoints through which entry with an electronic visa is possible. We are talking about the Far Eastern points.

An electronic Russian visa is issued once and is valid for 30 days, but it can be used to stay in Russia for no more than eight days. In April, Rosturizm proposed to make the e-visa multiple-entry to help the tourism industry recover from the pandemic.