Murmansk people travel more abroad

Never before has some many people from Russia’s Kola Peninsula been traveling abroad to its neighbors in Finland and Norway.

Last week was especially busy at the border stations to Norway and Finland in the north. Most Russians had some days off from work and far more than normal crossed the borders for shopping.

According to the Murmansk based b-port.com a total of 7.868 people passed through the border stations at Borisoglebsk / Storskog, Lotta / Raja- Joosepin and Salla, during the four-day period from Wednesday to Saturday last week.

At Borisoglebsk / Storskog 2.467 people and 763 vehicles crossed the border during the four days period. That is all time high for the Norwegian-Russian border stations.

October statistics from Storskog, Norway’s border crossing point to Russia shows that 12.682 people crossed the border, an increase of more than 3.000 people compared with last year.

There are two main reasons for the increase in travel to Norway. First of all, Russian Customs has lifted the restrictions on amount of goods Russians can bring home. Earlier this year, a traveler could bring home a maximum of 35 kg per months. Today the limit is raised to 50 kg each time the person cross the border no matter how many times per month.

Secondly, the Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk is now issuing so-called Pomor-visas, multi-entry visa to Norway where the applicants don’t need prior invitations. Such visas can be obtained by all inhabitants of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblast.

As a result, people from the Kola Peninsula are queuing up for shopping and vacations on the Norwegian side of the border.

Including the statistics from October, more than 110.000 people have crossed the Norwegian-Russian border in 2010, more than the total number in 2009.

Read also: First opening in the Schengen-regime with Russia

Also, northern Finland is more popular than ever among Russia’s northern population.

The statistics from the Finnish border Guard for Salla border station shows that all months of 2010 had more border crossers than the previous years. Around 9000 people crossed the border at Salla in October, while some 5000 people crossed the border at Finland’s northernmost border to Russia at Raja-Joosepin.

The Murmansk branch of Finland’s Consulate General in St. Petersburg has issued 10.000 more visas this year compared with last year. Consul Martti Ruokokoski estimates that some 28.000 to 30.000 visas to Finland will be issued this year. Including October, 19.340 visas are issued in 2010, and November and December are normally the peak-period for visas to Finland. Russians want to apply for visa to get to Finland and Lapland for New Year´s holiday.

- The Finish consulatein Murmansk issued 2.782 visas in October, says Sari Pöyhönen, Media and Culture assistant at Finland’s Murmansk consulate to BarentsObserver.

- Russians and Murmansk inhabitants one favorite target for holiday is Finland and Lapland. They want to go to Finland for shopping, relaxing in spas and cottages and having activities skiing centers. We are now getting up to 300 visa applications every day, says Consul Matti Ruokokoski.