Muscat – Citizens from Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia can expect to travel visa-free to Russia in 2025, according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

Nikita Kondratyev, Director of Department for Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects in the ministry, was quoted by Russian news agency TASS saying a visa-free regime with Oman, Bahrain Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Myanmar and some African countries is expected to launch in 2025.

“I really hope so, because there is demand from Russian tourists for these countries and also a sharp increase in inbound tourism (from these countries),” Kondratyev said.

The Ministry of Economic Development is coordinating efforts with the Russian Foreign Ministry to liberalise the visa regime with key friendly countries. Interstate agreements on abolishing the visa regime are being developed with Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bahrain, and some African countries, Kenya in particular, he added.

According to the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT), Oman witnessed a remarkable surge of over 308% Russian tourist arrivals in 2023, with numbers increasing to 53,145 from around 13,000 in 2022.

MHT has an ambitious plan to increase the number of tourists to 11mn by the year 2040, marking a significant stride towards Oman Vision 2040. The strategy includes tapping into the Russian alongside other key source markets, notably India and China.

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