Blagoveshchensk Residents Travel Less to China

VLADIVOSTOK. April 14. VOSTOK-MEDIA – During the first three months of 2010, the number of Russian tourists travelling to China through a checkpoint in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, has decreased considerably, officials said.

In the first quarter of 2010, over 210,000 tourists crossed the checkpoint, which is 12.1 per cent less than in the same period of 2009, Heihe authorities said. The figure includes about 150,000 Russians traveling to China and 60,000 Chinese traveling to Russia.

Heihe and Blagoveshchensk have been dubbed the Twin Cities since they are the most closely situated, the biggest and have the highest ranking among the other cities located on the more than 4,300-km-long Sino-Russian border, Xinhua wrote.

Heihe checkpoint officers said the major reason behind the drop in tourism is the global financial crisis. Firstly, the Russian economy is still suffering stagnation; household incomes declined and hence people travel less. Secondly, Blagoveshchensk Customs Service has been pursuing the policy of strict restrictions on the quantity of imported goods thus reducing the number of people working in the commercial sector.