" Russia to watch the World Cup, with 100,000 tourists "
With the 2018 World Cup in Russia just five days away, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on Monday that as many as 100,000 Chinese are expected to arrive in Russia to watch the World Cup.
According to a recent official announcement by the World Cup Organizing Committee, 40,000 Chinese have already received the FAN ID, which is mandatory for watching games, as of June 6 local time. The number is more than 8,000 more than that of Britain, the birthplace of soccer.
The U.S. and Mexico numbered 39,000 and 33,000 respectively.
The World Cup has been even more attractive to the Chinese as the Russian government has offered a visa waiver for the Russian government introduction of FAN ID. The Chinese city government, the largest travel agency in China, predicted that up to 100,000 Chinese will visit Russia during the World Cup.
According to the travel agency, the proportion of flights scheduled between China and Russia during the World Cup increased by 400 percent compared to the same period last year.
" I've always wanted to see the World Cup games myself, but it wasn't easy because most of them were in faraway countries such as Europe, " said a Shanghai man who described himself as a big fan of soccer. Russia is not only close to China, but it is also very convenient to have a FAN ID card because visa is exempted.
Another fan hinted at expectations for the World Cup by saying, " I heard that even the most expensive hotels are already fully booked for places not far from the stadium. "
A variety of package tour packages targeting the World Cup were introduced in China, and 120,000 yuan (2,200,000 U.S. dollars) worth of products including first-class passenger flights, luxury hotels, and tickets for the finals are also sold.
It is said that the most expensive World Cup package is 850,000 yuan (143 million won), which was purchased by a customer of Fusenseong Xiamen.