YEREVAN, March 24. /ARKA/. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) says the list of counties where Russians began flying to for obtaining Visa and MasterCard cards (Visa, MasterCard and other Western payment systems have suspended all operations in Russia in protest at its invasion of Ukraine) now includes Armenia, Kazakhstan and some other countries.

According to ATOR, in addition to the expansion of the Russian national payment system Mir outside Russia (which is unlikely to be fast), one of the obvious solutions to the problem, although palliative, is a massive issue of the Chinese Union Pay cards by Russian banks. But so far, this has been a slow process in Russia.

ATOR says for many Russian tourists who want to travel abroad flying to another country and get Visa and MasterCard cards from local banks which can certainly be used to pay anywhere abroad  looks a sensible alternative.

Russian tour operators have already started preparing such tours. One of them- Russian Express - is preparing four-day tours to Armenia for obtaining three-currency cards – in AMD, Euro and USD- issued by Unibank.

"The demand for tours abroad for Visa and MasterCard cards has really emerged and we are receiving more and more requests from travel agents for organizing such trips to Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We also consider Kyrgyzstan,’  Anna Filatovskaya from  Russian Express told ATOR Herald.

Other players are mulling  tours to Turkey. PAC Group confirmed that demand for tours to Uzbekistan and Armenia is now high also because of the fact that tourists can get international Visa and MasterCard cards during these trips. -0-