Spy hunt? Belarus police demand information about foreign tourists staying in rural areas
The Belarusian police want to get information about foreign tourists staying in homesteads within three hours after their check-in.
“Information has been confirmed, but only in one district, Valozhynski. The order has not been recorded. At the same time, a lot of things are based on verbal orders – they are usually fulfilled,” Liliya Kobzik, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tourism and Recreation, says.
Not long ago a reader informed the newspaper about the police’s attention to tourists from abroad
The police sent a letter ordering to provide them with information about foreign guests withing a day after their arrival, another owner of a cottage told Belsat.eu.
“They ask to send them information by fax, not via e-mail. But we do not have a fax machine. We called and asked whether we can send in via e-mail. They said: „No, come to us and report.” It means that we have to cover 20 kilometers to [get a permission to] lodge guests, another 20 to return home – in total, 40 kilometers. Why don’t they ask to send mail by pigeon post ?! People are very dissatisfied with this decision,” the man says.
The police do not know for sure what they need from the owners of farmsteads and cottages, he added:
“We asked them whether we should provide information about Russian tourists. ‘Hmm… perhaps you should..’ – that was a response. He did not even know.”
According to Valeryia Klitsunova, Chairperson of the Belarusian NGO “Holiday In A Village”, such measure will be another obstacle to the development of rural tourism.
