Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 24 September (BelTA) – Belarus expects that the number of tourists coming from China will rise by at least 15% every year taking into account the visa waiver agreement, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister Mikhail Portnoi on 24 September.

The official said: “Everything will depend on how well our marketing program works and how much money will be allocated. If all the large regions get money, we are talking about one figure. If we spend as little as we do now, we are talking about a 12-15% increase per annum. But we hope that we will manage to increase tourism traffic by several times in the end.”

According to the Sports and Tourism Ministry, China is a very promising target market for Belarus. Mikhail Portnoi reminded that the number of tourists from China coming as organized groups increased by 110% in 2017. Belarus has welcomed over 17,000 Chinese tourists so far this year, 4.6% up from the same period of last year.

Mikhail Portnoi said he expects that all the measures that have been taken to attract tourists from China will produce their results in a year or a year and a half. Including an increase in the number of tourists coming as individuals. In his words, in Belarus Chinese tourists are primarily interested in the “red tourism” (places relating to the Communist Party history) as well as castles and nature.

BelTA reported earlier that the Belarusian-Chinese mutual visa waiver agreement came into force on 10 August.