GELENDZHIK, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - More than seven million foreign tourists will have visited Russia in 2006, the country's tourism agency said Friday.
"Judging by the results of the first half of this year, we can say that the growth [on last year] will be 11%," Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, the head of the Federal Tourism Agency, said at a regional conference in the south of Russia.
Strzhalkovsky said another 17 million foreigners will have visited Russia in 2006 (excluding diplomats and military personnel) for non-tourist reasons.
He also said the number of Russians vacationing at domestic resorts would increase 10-12%, to 24 million people.
