New border control rules for passengers
of ferries coming to Helsinki, that come into force from May 1, are
unprofitable for Finland and other countries, through which the ferries go, and
these rules should be cancelled – believes the Vice-President of Russian Union
of Travel Industry, the Director of North-Western Department of the
organization, Sergey Korneev.
Cruises on Princess Maria and Princess
Anastasia ferries from the city on the Neva
River to Finland,
Sweden and Estonia are popular among citizens of St. Petersburg and the north-west of Russia. More and more tourists from
other regions of Russia
are buying such tours. This way they can combine their visit to the Northern
capital with an exciting trip to Baltic countries.
But from May, 1, according to the
information received from the border service of Finland,
Russian citizens who come to Helsinki on ferries
and have a single-entry visa, cannot come ashore at ports of other Baltic
countries which are included in their cruises program – Stockholm
and Tallinn. This
is connected with the fact that now, in Helsinki,
before returning to the ship, passengers will be put stamps of departure from
the Schengen zone. This means that one can fully use the ferry cruise only if
he has a multiple-entry visa.
In the opinion of the Vice-President of
RUTI such innovations, which can lead to the decrease of this product’s users,
are “simply unethical”. “Russian Federation has done a lot to simplify visa
formalities first of all for Finland’s
citizens, and also the Schengen Agreement and the European Union”, - noted Sergey
Korneev. He reminded that in 2009 foreign citizens got permission for 72-hour visa-free
visits of Russian ports on ferries. Even earlier this status was given to
foreign cruise passengers.
«Russia is doing everything possible
to accommodate the needs of foreign tourists, including the Finnish. In such
cases the visa application procedure is not just simplified, but revoked”, - noted
the Vice-President of RUTI. Ha also added that it’s not quite clear to what
standard acts the Finnish side refers when instituting these rules. “There’s
only one standard act – the visa code of Schengen, which is obligatory for all Union’s countries. And as far as I know the issue is not
covered in it and there are no special reserves connected with such situation”,
- said Mr. Korneev who is not only an expert in tourism, but an international
lawyer, too. To his mind, such extra-cautiousness from the Finnish side is
absolutely groundless as, according to the rules of ferries, all the passengers
do the necessary electronic registration. “All passengers, even if they don’t
go ashore in Helsinki, still need to pass the passport control – there are
special requirements for ferries and for its’ breach there is a serious fine of
€3000," noted the expert.
The main thing is that the rules of the
Finnish frontiers run counter the economic interest of Finland itself, who on all levels was going over
and over about the necessity of the inbound tourist flow from Russia. “We
know that according to their own statistics, last year, Russian tourists spent
more than one billion dollars in Finland,
and it concerns only tax free refunds, without taking in consideration what was
spent in restaurants and cafes or any other expenses on the territory of Finland.
Such a strange contradiction”, - said Sergey Korneev to RIA Novosti.
He said that the government of the
countries through the ferries go - Finland,
Sweden and Estonia - should
try to settle the situation. “Our governor Poltavchenko acts right. He brought
up this issue at the meeting in Helsinki.
It should be solved on economic and politic levels and not on the level of
fears of border services”, - said the Director of the Regional Department of RUTI.
According to his words MFA of Russian Federation knows about the problem and
“carries out necessary negotiations”.
Sergey Korneev noted that if the issue is
not solved, RUTI will address the European Commission and their Finnish,
Swedish and Estonian counterparts for the support: “The whole Europe is saying that
tourism is growing and that one of it's main tourist donors is Russia”.
