Russia visa-free policy spurs flight searches in China

Searches for flights to Russia by Chinese travelers surged following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on Tuesday that Chinese citizens will soon be able to visit the country visa-free.

As of 9 am on Wednesday, both the search volume for flights to Moscow and its search growth rate have ranked among top 10 globally, according to Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

The top five most popular departure cities according to the searches are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen of Guangdong province, and Chengdu, Sichuan province, with searches from Beijing in particular ballooning by 3.4 times compared to data from an hour before the announcement.

Putin said that Russia will introduce visa-free travel for Chinese citizens in the very near future, multiple Russian media outlets including Russia Today reported.

The move came months after Beijing lifted visa requirements for Russian nationals. From Sept 15, 2025 to Sept 14, 2026, a visa-free policy is being tested for holders of ordinary passports from Russia, according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The search volume for flights from Chinese cities to St. Petersburg has also grown significantly, with some of the most popular departure cities including Wuhan, Hubei province, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Since the beginning of this year, Russia has been one of the fastest-growing outbound travel destinations. As of Wednesday, the number of hotel bookings in Russia this year has grown by 43 percent over the same period last year, while the number of flight bookings has risen by 29 percent year-on-year, Qunar found.

So far, the number of flights operating between China and Russia has rebounded to 94.9 percent of the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019. Among these flights, Chinese carriers operate more than 52 percent, according to Flight Master, a Chinese travel services platform.