China attracts Russian tourists again

The Chinese Embassy to Russia issues 200 visas daily, China's Consul General in the Russian Federation Jiang Na said Thursday. A third of them are tourist visas, according to her.

Jiang Na noted that after it was taken off the SARS list, China expects an uprise of Russian tourists' interest to it.

"I can state with full responsibility today that it is absolutely safe to travel to China," the Consul General underlined.

Sergei Nazarov who chairs the China Club of the National Tourist Association also noted that Russian travel agencies offering trips to China are making efforts to restore the pre-crisis level of demand for such trips.

"We expect that the number of tourists and businessmen going to China will reach 80 percent of the pre-crisis figure during the travelling season (September through November) to exceed that level further on," Nazarov asserted.

According to him, over a million Russians annually crossed the Chinese border before the SARS epidemic.