About 174 thousand people arrived in Belarus in January-July 2019 in the frame of the visa-free regime. This is 62% more than in the same period last year, said Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism Vital Hrytsevich.
The Ministry of Sports and Tourism expects that the increase in the number of tourists will be promoted by the association of visa-free tourist zones of Brest and Hrodna regions, which will start working in three months, BelTA informs.
Vital Hrytsevich also notes that the unification of tourist zones will allow a foreigner to spend 3.5-4 days in Belarus, not 2.5 days on average.
Visa-free zones in Brest and Hrodna will be united into one visa-free territory “Brest – Hrodna” on November 10. It will now include five more districts of Hrodna region.
In the visa-free zone the period of foreign tourists’ stay has increased up to 15 days (it concerns citizens of 73 countries). In addition, it will be possible to enter through two additional checkpoints on the state border.
Now foreigners will be able to move throughout the western regions of Belarus, but only as part of organized tourist groups on the routes that provide for visiting the visa-free territory of Brest-Hrodna.
