Press releases

MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – Belarus expects the number of Russian tourists to increase in 2018, BelTA learned from Vitaly Gritsevich, Deputy Head of the Tourism Department of the Belarusian Sports and Tourism Ministry, on 22 March.

According to the State Border Committee of Belarus, some 1.188 million people came to Belarus from Russia in 2016. In 2017 the figure reached 1.23 million. Positive dynamics has been registered for more than the last two years. The number of Russian tourists rises all the time. “We expect the number to rise in 2018, too,” said Vitaly Gritsevich.

In his words, the number of organized tourist groups from Russia has increased as well — from 171,000 in 2016 to 191,500 in 2017. In 2017 Belarus exported $117.193 million worth of tourism services to Russia, 18.5% up from 2016.

“An MITT expo was held in Russia recently. I can say that our national stand attracted crowds. While Belarus is a familiar place for Russia, we managed to surprise them once again,” noted the official.

Vitaly Gritsevich stressed that the number of tourists is less important than the quality of available services. “We need tourists to stay as long as possible in Belarus and respectively consume a larger number of services, thus contributing to larger export of tourism services,” added the official.