Opinions & Interviews

Good prospects for Belarus-Israel cooperation in tourism

Photo courtesy of Lev Gelfand, Association "Moscow", Israel

MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – Belarus and Israel are well positioned to considerably increase mutual tourist flows, Belarus’ Ambassador to Israel Vladimir Skvortsov said as he met with Olga Lurie, Director General of the Netanya Association for Tourism, BelTA learned from the Belarusian diplomatic mission.

The meeting between Vladimir Skvortsov and Olga Lurie took place on the sidelines of the ceremony to unveil a monument to Yuri Gagarin in the territory of Planetanya, the planetarium of Netanya.

According to the estimates of the Belarusian diplomat, cooperation in tourism between Belarus and Israel has intensified in recent years, which is largely attributed to the visa-free regime between the two states. The visa waiver has been in place for more than three years already.

The most popular types of tourism among Israelis travelling to Belarus are diaspora tourism and religious tourism. “In fact, Belarus is the birthplace of many prominent political figures of the State of Israel; many Jewish religious leaders were buried here. Apart from that, Israelis come here for recuperation at our health resorts. At the same time, we need to promote other types of tourism, as well,” Vladimir Skvortsov said.

The Belarusian diplomat also met with Netanya Mayor Miriam Fierberg-Ikar. By the way, Netanya has twin relations with Central District of the Belarusian capital. Top on the agenda of the meeting were promotion of twin-town relations and preparations for the visit of the Netanya mayor to Minsk in 2019.

Attending the ceremony to unveil the monument to Yuri Gagarin were representatives of the Israeli public, Russia’s Ambassador Alexander Viktorov, Deputy Director General of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos Sergei Saveliev, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyayev, Director General of the Israel Space Agency Avi Blasberger.

Russian cosmonauts who are in orbit now welcomed the participants of the ceremony via videoconferencing. A photo exposition Our Gagarin about the world’s first cosmonaut was presented to the public.

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