Moscow issues record number of Czech visas

Prague, Jan 19 (CTK) - Czech consuls issued almost 340,000 Schengen visas in Russia in 2011, with the total of 279,815 in Moscow alone being the highest from 2000, Czech ambassador to Russia Petr Kolar says on the Czech Foreign Ministry's web page.

Another 60,000 visas were issued by the general consulates in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.

An estimated more than half a million Russians visited the Czech Republic last year. They could also arrive on a Schengen visa issued in another EU member state.

The Russian tourists spent an estimated eight billion crowns in the Czech Republic.

"The Czech Republic has been a very popular tourist destination in Russia for many years. The rising interest in our country was registered mainly last year when our consulates issued a record number of visas," Kolar writes.

He says only the diplomatic missions of Finland, Greece, Italy and Spain issued more visas. French and German clerks issued about the same number of visas like Czechs.

Russians arrive for an average seven days in the Czech Republic, which is one of the longest stays, Kolar writes.

The average deadline for settling a visa application has been cut by two to four or five days, the Czech embassy in Russia said in reaction to the information by Czech weekly Ekonom that Czech spas and hotels are losing the lucrative Russian clientele over a complex visa procedure.

($1=19.916 crowns)