MINSK, 21 March (BelTA) – The Russian agency TourStat has compiled a list of countries visiting Russia in 2017. Belarus made it to the top 25, BelTA informs.
According to the TourStat, the number of inbound trips to Russia from Belarus increased by 13% to 152,000 visits in 2017 (as against 2016). The total number of visits to Russia exceeded 24 million.
Belarus ranked 23rd in the number of inbound trips to Russia last year.
The top five countries included Ukraine (8.7 million visits), Kazakhstan (3.5 million), China (1.5 million), Finland (1 million), and Azerbaijan (876,000).
South Korea (254,000 visits, a growth of 58%) and China (1.5 million, 15%) topped the chart in the growth of inbound tourism to Russia.
The number of visitors from the majority of the EU countries increased in 2017, with 580,000 visits from Germany (up 3%), 185,000 visits from France (up 5%), 60,000 visits from the Netherlands (up 5%), and 52,000 people from Austria (up 6%).