Schengen visa for tourists from the Russian Federation – what has changed

The Russian Union of Travel Industry states: the demand for tours to Europe has increased, and obtaining a Schengen visa has become easier.

After the New Year holidays submitting documents for Schengen has become easier, and the registration process takes less time, writes GreekReporter. And the demand for tours to Europe, reports the Russian Union of Travel Industry, has picked up. The easiest way to apply for a Schengen visa is at the Consulate of Greece and Cyprus. Irina Manuilskaya, head of the sales department of the tour operator Sodis, says:

“In the summer, the Greeks issued visas a week in advance, but for travel dates. In France, Italy and Spain you can always find an appointment window, but at the Spanish consulate our tourists have recently received monthly visas, that is, almost for travel dates with a minimum corridor. France , notorious for unpredictable appointments, before the New Year, unexpectedly began opening windows and processing visas more clearly. We hope that this year everything will be better organized.”

The expert noted that France now issues the longest visas. Tourists who already have a five-year Schengen visa in their passport can sometimes receive one-year or even three-year visas. As Ivetta Verdiyan, director of the promotion and advertising department of the BSI Group, said, the demand for tours to Europe in January increased compared to December, when only destinations that did not require long-term visas were relevant:

“The demand for Europe has increased, visas are issued in 20-25 days, sometimes up to 1-2 months, depending on the destination. Therefore, we advise those who are planning to travel on the May holidays and other spring dates to start processing visas and purchasing connecting tickets now flights. We submit tourist documents for visas to Italy almost every day, registration is available for the coming days of January and February, registration from the moment of passing the fingerprint is 40-45 days. Registration for Schengen visas to Spain is available two months in advance, for France there are windows for March, and in the UK documents are submitted almost daily, registration is possible until the end of winter.”

Irina Golubeva, director of marketing and sales at ClickVoyage, claims that Switzerland issues visas the fastest – you can receive ready-made documents in 10-14 days, however, only for travel dates. As noted by the PCT, the volume of sales of tours to European countries last year for a number of tour operators exceeded the figures for 2023, but did not return to pre-Covid figures. The greatest demand among Russian tourists is for travel to France, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the UK and Cyprus.

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