Press releases

VITEBSK, 2 February (BelTA) – The export geography of Vitebsk Oblast included ten new countries in 2015, BelTA learned from Deputy Head of the Sport and Tourism Department of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Darya Matskevich.

“In comparison with 2014,the export of tourism services in the region was expanded by ten countries, namely Australia, Greece, Argentina, Maldives, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Tunisia, Qatar, and Sudan. These are not only tourists using vouchers, by also people visiting our region during business and other trips,” Darya Matskevich said.

The export of tourism (mostly comprehensive) services to Turkmenistan went up 3.8 times, to Uzbekistan 3.6 times. These results were reached thanks to the marketing events worth more than Br432 million in 2015.

The majority of tourists still come from Russia. However, the share of this country in the structure of export is gradually falling. In 2013 and 2014 Russia accounted for 95% and 91% of this export respectively; in 2015 the share was 86.8%.

In Vitebsk Oblast tourism services are provided to the population by 116 organizations. 65% of these organizations only organize travels abroad. The volume of services provided by organizations specializing in incoming tourism has fallen.