Jilin launches visa-free group tours to Russia

Jilin group tourists started to travel to Russia through land border port on a new mutual visa-free policy recently.

"I've always wanted to go to Russia to get an exotic experience. Unlike before, now group tourists no longer have to go to Hunchun first and wait for all tourists to arrive before setting out. It saves tourists a lot of time. Besides, when we applied for this group tour in Changchun this time around, we produced nothing more than the passport, and the travel agency then took care of everything online to make this visa-free tour happen. It is very convenient," said a tourist taking advantage of the new policy joyfully.

"Before, we had to go to Hunchun to meet the tour guide. We are old people, so such complex stuff worried us. Things are good now. We can meet the tour guide in Changchun, and with someone guiding us from the very beginning to the very end of the tour, we feel much more at ease," the tourist added.

The tourist was traveling with Changchun Culture International Travel Agency which has adopted the mutual visa-free policy.

The agency also plans to bring Russian tourists to Jilin for in-depth tours around the province.

Its vice general manager Meng Jie said, "In the past, customs clearance required us to send all group tours to Vladivostok to Yanji or Hunchun for local travel agencies to handle. With the new policy, the procedures are simpler, and more importantly, we have more autonomy (without having to relay to other travel agencies), which means better guarantee of tour services. Meanwhile, we can further diversify our products in accordance with market demands."

"At the same time, we pay much attention to bringing in Russian tourists, which is made much easier with the new policy," Meng added, believing in-depth tours around Jilin will find increasing favor with Russian tourists.

The travel agency has upgraded its products to better accommodate the new policy and will launch more border tours and in-depth Jilin tours in the future.