With newly-affluent Russians and Chinese queuing up to tour the EU, Brussels on Wednesday urged European nations to facilitate travel visas to help spur badly-needed economic growth. "It's business," said the commissioner for industry Antonio Tajani. "Tourism and travel facilitation have always been high on my agenda." Foreign travellers last year spent over 330 billion euros ($424 billion) in the European Union, the world's top tourist destination, where the sector provides 18.8 million jobs.
Calling on the 27-nation bloc to do more to streamline common visa policy, Tajani said that he, for example, favoured granting Russians visa-free travel. The issue is expected to come up at an EU-Russia summit December 21.