Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 December (BelTA) – Work to extend the visa-free travel stay time for tourists, who enter the country via the Minsk National Airport, will continue, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister Mikhail Portnoi on 26 December.

For now tourists from 80 countries can stay in Belarus for five days without visas, provided they enter via the Minsk National Airport. According to Mikhail Portnoi, ways to improve the existing procedures and terms to bring more tourists to Belarus are being considered.

“Work is in progress. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing the presidential decree,” specified Mikhail Portnoi.

“Allowing tourists to enter and stay in the country for five days is a breakthrough step for the tourism industry. We hope that these issues will be handled prior to the 2019 European Games. We may possibly extend the visa-free travel program to also include border checkpoints on the ground. We have to take care of national security first. As far as visa-free travels are concerned, we take it step by step,” added the deputy sports and tourism minister.

As of 18 December over 76,500 foreigners have been able to stay in Belarus for up to five days using the visa-free travel program.