MOSCOW, August 1 (Sputnik) - Russia has visa-free agreements with dozens of countries around the world, including most of Latin America and much of Southeast Asia, and countries in northern and southern Africa. Now, Russians will enjoy visa-free access to two of the oldest and richest civilizations on Earth – both of which also happen to be Moscow’s key strategic partners.

Russia opened visa-free group tourist exchanges with China and Iran on Tuesday, with Russian citizens now able to travel to both countries for tourism purposes in groups up to 50 people for up to 15 days at a time, and vice versa.

China, which had a visa-free travel arrangement with Russia that was suspended during the Covid pandemic, began resuming tours to Russia and other countries on an experimental basis in February. The full resumption of exchanges starting Tuesday is expected to increase tourism flows by 200-300 percent, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

Before the pandemic, between one and 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Russia each year, with about 400,000 expected in 2023.

In the case of Iran, Russia formally concluded a visa free group tourism agreement with the country in July, with the two nations exchanging lists of accredited travel agencies.

Over 360 Russian tourism agencies offer organized visa-free group trips to China, while 260 offer group tourism to Iranian destinations.

Russia, Iran and China account for over 18 percent of the world’s land mass, and contain many of the natural and man-made riches of both ancient and modern civilizations. Russia is known to be home to dozens of major lost ancient historical empires and has its own thousand-year history to speak of, while China and Iran can proudly boast their status as among the oldest continuously surviving civilizations on Earth, with all the cultural, archeological, architectural and other splendors that come with such a status.