Press releases

BREST, 19 July (BelTA) – An informational and educational cartoon for visa-free tourists has been made in Brest, BelTA learned from representatives of the Sport and Tourism Office of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee on 19 July.

So far this year the visa-free travel zone Brest has attracted over 7,500 visa-free travelers from 53 countries. The most active tourists came from Poland. The opportunity to visit Brest and the surrounding area also attracts tourists from Lithuania, Latvia, and Germany.

Nikolai Glushenya, Head of the Sport and Tourism Office of the Brest Oblast administration, said: “Visa-free tourism is on the rise. But we see that not all the foreigners understand how they can come here without visas this is why we’ve tried to deliver this information to Brest Oblast residents and potential tourists as effectively as possible. The website bezvizbrest.by is now online. It will be translated into eight languages in the future. An animated film has been produced to show step by step how a tourist can come to Brest without visas.”

The cartoon is hosted by YouTube and lasts for about one minute. The animated film is available in Russian, Polish, and English.

In order to enter the visa-free travel zone Brest, foreign citizens are advised to go to bezvizbrest.by, find a certified travel agency, and contact it. Then the tourist will have to send passport data, decide where he or she will be staying and what he or she will be seeing, get a tourist invitation, and buy insurance. After registering with the system, the tourist will be able to freely cross the Belarusian border, explained Denis Nikityuk, Head of the Tourism Sector of the Sport and Tourism Office of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee.

Plans are being worked out to further advertise Brest Oblast’s tourism products. In particular, negotiations are in progress to enable cooperation between the Brest airport and low-cost airlines as well as the bus company Ecolines. A travel manager is in development. It will allow visitors to see all the tourism products the tourism and recreation zone Brest has to offer.

Foreigners stay in Brest Oblast for 3.7 days on the average. Only 20% of them stay for 24 hours. Other ones stay for two days and more. “We believe the fact indicates that tourists grow more interested in Brest Oblast places of interest,” noted Nikolai Glushenya.