People from all around the world made 993,000 tourist visits to Russia in the first half of 2012, which is a year-on-year increase of 22 percent, according to the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism.

      Over 13 million foreigners visited Russia in the first six months of the year, which is 15 percent more over the same period last year.

      Leader in travelling to Russia is Poland - 483,1 people for the first half of the year and a 60% increase, though most of them are business visitors. Other tourists include 148,000 Germans, 113,000 Chinese, 63,500 Americans, 51,500 French nationals and 51,000 Finns.

      56 percent more Australians came to Russia in the first half of 2012 than in the same period of last year, which was the highest year-over-year increase (not counting Poland). The number of Turkish visitors rose by 46 percent, Chinese by 43 percent, Japanese by 41 percent and Swiss by 29 percent.