ksenia.klykova1

Before anything else, a disclaimer: I was born in Moscow but moved to Spain (near Barcelona) when I was 7. I’m 27 now. I still visit the country frequently (was there this last Christmas) but as someone with a foot in “both worlds”, so to speak, and despite how much I love it and miss it every year, I can understand why some people may be a little…hesitant to choose it as a destination.

And I think one of the main reasons is this:

We come away as cold and unfriendly. In my opinion it has a lot to do with how smiling / laughing / being “polite” to strangers (in a Western conception) is perceived. In some professional settings in Russia even smiling can be seen as unprofessional. You smile when you are with close friends and family. Anything else is usually weird, especially in big cities. What is more, being too friendly in some contexts may be perceived as hypocrite, besides unprofessional.

I didn’t realize how much of a cultural difference there is until I travelled with my Spanish university friends to Poland (which is similar in that matter) and one of them was outraged by the treatment she got from a barista in a coffee shop. I just found her expression and tone neutral and by all means correct. She found it bordering on disrespectful. Which doesn’t mean you won’t find disrespectful people in Russia. It’s just that your threshold for disrespectful may be different than ours, so the Russian “neutral professional face” may be seen as too cold (hence perceived as “I don’t care about you”) by people used to a more “cheerful” professional tone.

It can also be summarized in…we have a serious resting ..... face problem as a country. Just don’t hate us for it. I swear is nothing personal.

echino

There's a Russian saying:

Смех без причины — признак дурачины

Meaning those who smile too much look like idiots. It's not in Russian culture to smile.

Rami Tamimi

Смех does not translate as "smile", it translates as "laugh". If you see someone in the street laughing without an obvious reason, will you perhaps think there is something not exactly right with them?

That said, this saying is most often used for friends and family when they come up with a stupid joke.

azepine00

this is fairly common for northern countries in general

BuildingMyBento

Two months ago, I flew from Tbilisi to Rostov on Don. I was the only non-Georgian/Russian at immigration, which led to my being interrogated in the back room.

To be fair, I wasn't worried in the slightest, but was quite amused when the officer said (through google translate) "Moscow is nearly 1000km from Rostov. Are you sure you didn't mean to go there?"

Hmm, and how about all of those World Cup visitors you were expecting a month later?...

(Mind you, this was my 5th entry stamp into Russia within three years; St. Petersburg gave me a slight problem, but Moscow was always seamless.)

JuliaLonrein

It will change only with change of generations. People who lived in USSS have a lot of patience and don't want to cope with problems.
And russian politicians need to change too. They support corruption on a high level.

OpenSky

How about

- Friendlier border control, less arduous visa policies.
There are plenty of countries where Russians can visit visa free, that is not reciprocal. Instead visitors have to pay hefty fees etc.

The application process is also daunting

Exiting the country is also daunting now with legitimate visitors getting grilled on their travel plans on the way out. The US/EU/UK/AU/NZ other other countries don't do that.

And I've been going for 10 years….frankly fed up. It used to be a lot more open, but I've gradually seen policies become more restrictive over time.

I think the FAN ID thing is a trial to see how open borders might be like, clearly the locals don't know how to handle it, with long processing times and interrogation of people coming in with FAN ID's that are legitimate but not going to Moscow.

Sves

Russia's visa policy is almost as reciprocal as Brazilian one. The only major difference is that EU/UK/NZ would not like to sign visa-free agreement with RU and 80% Russian entry visa hassles are consequences of that decision.

VitaliU

Why on earth would the EU or any other western country grant Russia visa-free travel? What's next? Visa-free travel for Afghanistan?

As to the topic of the thread, I think Russia has exactly the reputation it deserves and, if anything, travel there is slightly overrated. Other than St Petersburg, there is not much there worth the trouble of getting there.

Helsinki Flyer

True. Yet it´s a real problem for Russian tourism. If Russia would waive the visa requirement, I´d take the train with my family within months. But I know they´re not going to do so, since they´re a proud country etc. They´re not helping themselves to improve its image as the thread title asks.

Sves

As of Dec 2018, there are 50 bilateral visa-free agreements (some in force from Jan 2019) and six signed but not yet in force, all permitting 14 days (for HK/BN/NR) to 90 days of stay. This includes huge and small counties like South Korea, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, Panama, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, etc. For Japanese citizens visa is free of charge.

How China (PRC), India, Australia, Canada and Unites States could be more successful tourist destinations despite very few visa-free visitors or/and greater visa hassles? I think it is not the main obstacle.
However, getting Schengen visa for Russian citizen already living in Western country (for example, the US as LPR or in the EU non-schengen member state) is harder (more papers, less visa validity dates) than for those living in Moscow or St. Petersburg. EU logic is not really straightforward on that matter.

Helsinki Flyer

No matter how many countries you might have bilateral visa-free agreements doesn´t help if you´re insisting on a visa from the countries that matter the most. It´s like UK trade agreements post-Brexit. They trade less with India than with Belgium. You need to let European in visa free. Yet your problem is your own pride. It needs to be bilateral. Why?EU logic or lack of logic isn´t helping make Russia less hugely underrated destination nor isn´t improving Russia´s image.