Under Russia’s presidency, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) created a tourism platform focused on increasing the share of tourism enthusiasts and travelers. Following the January 2024 admission of Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to the “informal association,” BRICS will no longer enroll new members. However, “partner countries” will be allowed to discuss a new global structure as part of their accumulated experience and success.
Russia prioritizes trade with Asia over Africa when it comes to tourism and travel in this multipolar world. This seems to pose a particular challenge for Africa in building current relations with both countries of the Global South. From a broader perspective, certain measures such as visa restrictions and bureaucratic barriers could be said to be impeding an integrated multipolar world.
Russia is seeing an increase in foreign tourists and travelers, mainly from Asian countries, but there are very few Africans in the popular tourist destinations of the Russian Federation. Despite the undeniable and gratifying fact that Russia is building relations with Africa on a strategic level and with great respect, Africans have to struggle to get regular visas to visit Russian Federation cities.
In meetings, summits and conferences, officials made unprecedented promises and pledges to ease travel visas and provide special opportunities for brief inspection visits, yet in practice they remained confined to “multilateral” rhetoric. Africans need to be aware of how vague many of these ambitious initiatives can be for Africa.
Russia’s visa-free policy appears to be increasingly failing to achieve its goal of increasing the number of foreign visitors, especially from Africa. According to a June report from the Ministry of Tourism, for example, foreign tourists will bring $3.5 billion to Russia in 2023, and tourist inflows will increase by 1 million. Moreover, the number of tourists to Russia is expected to increase by 30% to 5 million in 2024.
“In 2023, the influx of foreign tourists to our country will increase by more than one million. They brought in about $3.5 billion. But we want much more,” President Chernyshenko said at a government strategic meeting on national tourism and economic projects in late June.
Chairman of the Moscow Tourism Committee Evgeny Kozlov and Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov stated that citizens of BRICS countries should be treated as a priority. In the midst of the multipolarization movement, African nationals are not allowed to stay in Russia for business, tourism or family visits for up to 15 days. Africa’s middle class is estimated at 380 million people, twice the population of Russia. African countries (except Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa) do not have potential tourists and travelers who want to get acquainted with Russian culture, traditions and beautiful landscapes.
Alexander Muzykin, vice president of the Association of Russian Travel Agents (ATOR) and general manager of Intourist tour operator, also said in June that more than 40 percent of foreign tourists visiting Russia are Chinese. “Chinese tourists are hungry for new experiences, and tourists from China and other countries are interested in a wider geography of Russian tours,” Muzykin said at a plenary session of the Travel Forum held at Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition center in June.
Russia claims to be seeking to build integrated multipolar relations with friendly nations around the world, including African countries. However, Russia remains a popular vacation destination for Africa’s political elite, business leaders and middle class. Politicians and business leaders have a strong preference for vacationing in the United States and Europe, with several Asian destinations increasingly becoming their preferred options. This trend is unlikely to change and will remain so for the coming decades.
Following the first symbolic Russia-Africa summit, held in the Black Sea city of Sochi in October 2019, the two countries adopted a joint declaration, which is in fact a comprehensive document outlining various parameters for taking cooperation to a new qualitative level.
Therefore, frequent exchanges are necessary to effectively increase economic benefits and promote cooperation. The frequency of exchanges needs to be established not only during summits, but also basic strategic steps and measures to promote just vacation travel to both regions. These are largely missing in current Russian-African relations. Critics often say that Russia is a major contributor to the so-called isolationism and is closing the door at a time when there are huge opportunities to develop top-notch tourism.
In the current geopolitical situation, there are still other suitable vacation destinations for the estimated 380 million African middle class. Moscow and St. Petersburg are not their first priority for vacationing. Russian tour operators admit that there is nothing better for Russia than African tourism. On the other hand, Morocco, Egypt, Seychelles, South Africa and Zanzibar are the few African destinations that are popular with Russian tourists.
The Second Summit Declaration, published in St. Petersburg on July 28, 2023, suggests further strengthening of the historical and long-standing friendly relations between the Russian Federation and African countries, where Russian authorities are only dreaming of official visits by heads of state and ministers of African countries, which they see as important pillars of a multipolar world.
Since the first symbolic Sochi summit in 2019, little has happened on the tourist, social and cultural fronts. Russia and Africa have only discussed how to most effectively explore their untapped resources, the possibility of boosting cooperation in the tourism sector, disseminating information about tourism opportunities in the Russian Federation and African countries, etc.
Russia and Africa agreed to promote exchanges of delegations, athletes, teams, coaches and other specialists in the field of sports training. They also agreed to take measures to ensure respect for the rights of journalists and promote media development. Despite repeated emphasis on vocational training programs, academic and student exchanges, in reality, all of this remains as official documents, mainly compiled in computer files that will later be shoved into electronic historical archives.
In the years since Sochi, the original declaration has remained a tacit declaration. The basic question often asked is what is the purpose of a summit declaration? Even worse, a series of speeches and interesting remarks seem to be for linguistic coloring. “Russia is ready to build a multifaceted relationship with Africa. If Russia wins, Africa wins!” said Comoros President Azali Assomani at the St. Petersburg summit in late July.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation established the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat within the framework of the Joint Declaration adopted after the First Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi (2019). Expecting comprehensive and lasting cooperation on long-term programs, the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat has since been creating a network of potential Russian, African and international organizations with the aim of effectively promoting Russia’s economic interests in Africa and fostering mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries.
In early September 2023, local Russian media caused an uproar when they reported an update from the Russian Foreign Ministry that Russia was planning a “visa-waiver regime” with all African countries, as this was within the framework of the Russia-Africa Action Plan adopted at the second summit in St. Petersburg.
According to our survey and research, Russia has visa waiver agreements with six African countries. The visa waiver regime applies only to African countries that have signed agreements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Within the scope of the agreement, only diplomatic passport holders are allowed under this consular agreement. Moreover, visas are still required for two-way travel to facilitate contacts between Russian and African citizens and African countries to develop and promote work.
According to monitored sources, the agreement needs to be concluded after successful negotiations with Russian authorities. In an interview with me, one source confirmed that Russia has visa-free travel agreements for diplomatic passport holders with 32 countries on the African continent, but refuses to publish or make available to the media the official list of approved African countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and African heads of state adopted the Final Declaration of the Second Russia-Africa Summit, as well as the Action Plan for the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for 2023-2026 and other documents.
In addition, on the sidelines of the forum and summit, a number of agreements, contracts and other documents related to various areas of cooperation between Russia and Africa were approved.
“We highly appreciate the results of our joint work at the summit. I am confident that the results achieved will serve as a good basis for further deepening Russia-Africa partnership for the prosperity and well-being of our peoples,” Putin said in his speech published on the Kremlin’s official website.
President Putin expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the summit, which took place in a “constructive and very friendly atmosphere.” Russia and Africa confirmed their positions on the formation of a multipolar world order.
According to the established rules and regulations, Russia-Africa summits will be held every three years. Between the summits, the dialogue partnership mechanism will function and regular political consultations will continue through the Russian Foreign Ministry, African countries and the leadership of the African Union.
