MOSCOW, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The flow of Russian tourists to the United States will effectively cease for an indefinite period due to Washington's visa service suspension, the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) said Wednesday.
The United States announced Wednesday that it would suspend visa processing for 75 countries, including Russia, effective Jan. 21, according to a U.S. State Department memo.
The RST noted that U.S. visa services in Russia had already been unavailable before the formal suspension, with applicants forced to submit their visa applications through third countries.
Alexander Bragin, head of the Russian Association of Tour Aggregators, said that the United States has not been a popular travel destination among Russian tourists in recent years, due to visa application hurdles.
"Last year, bookings for U.S. hotels and air tickets made by Russian travelers through domestic tourist aggregators accounted for less than 1 percent of the total number of outbound travel bookings," Bragin noted.
