ASIA TIMES ONLINE
Casinos are among the lures Russia is using to promote tourism and investment into the underpopulated but resource rich Far East region. PHOTO/Vitaliy Ankov/RIA Novosti/Sputnik
North Korea, Iran join China, Japan among 18 countries chosen for online application program setting Vladivostok as gateway to still untapped region
Russia is making it easier for citizens of 18 nations to enter the port city of Vladivostok in a bid to lure gamblers to its new casinos and investors to its resource rich but still largely untapped Far East region.
Iran, China and Japan are among the countries eligible for a new four-day, online application process for “visas on arrival.” Still, with Vladivostok the only point of entry so far approved, travel is restricted to eight days and only within the Primorsky Krai region.
Of the countries on the list, only two – China and Japan – can realistically be expected to make a difference to visitor numbers in the Far East of Russia, according to Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Tourism Industry Union.
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