Tourists from Poland and Germany are stuck in traffic at the border with Kaliningrad Region

Tourists from Germany and Poland have caused huge traffic jams at the border of Kaliningrad Region. Foreign tour operators are actively selling tours to the Russian city.

According to SHOT, demand for booking apartments and hotels on foreign platforms has increased severalfold. “Eat Russian dumplings, try caviar, and discover a former German city in Russia!”—tourists are lured with slogans like these.

The influx is attributed to lower prices and better service in Russia. A 6-day sightseeing tour of Kaliningrad Region costs tourists from the European Union 517 euros (about 47 000 rubles per person), while a 10-day summer tour costs 695 euros (63 000 rubles). This is several times cheaper than traveling around Europe. Although Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended that its citizens refrain from traveling to Russia, Poles themselves say they enjoy traveling to Kaliningrad.

There is no mass influx of foreign tourists to the region; the main visitors are people arriving for personal reasons (family visits, business trips) or using the region as a transit point, tourism industry representatives explained. Mikhail Drutman, director of the Baltma Tours travel company, told RIA Novosti that those crossing the border are not tourists, but people originally from Russia.

Kaliningrad Region attracts foreign visitors mainly for two reasons: visits to relatives and business trips. Most foreign visitors to the region are compatriots living in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and other European countries. The second group consists of business travelers from neighboring countries—Lithuania, Poland, Latvia—as well as China and several other countries. Separate categories of foreign visitors include medical tourists, predominantly from Germany and other European countries, who come for affordable dental services, as well as property owners who come to the region to spend the winter because of low utility rates.

Original article on the VEZDENASHI website