Belarus eager to welcome more tourists from Southeast Asia

Belarus is interested in seeing more tourists from Southeast Asia, Belarusian Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister Cheslav Shulga told media on 19 September.

BelTA has learned that new markets to export Belarusian tourism services are developing rather slowly. “Looking for prospects we turn towards markets of Southeast Asia and Europe. At present Russia accounts for about 70% of the exported tourism services. Certainly, the lack of a language barrier plays its part,” said Cheslav Shulga. In his words, 70% is rather a serious figure, however, there is nothing frightening about it, for instance, Germany accounts for about 45-48% of the exported tourism services in Poland.

This year Belarus’ export of tourism services is supposed to be $250 million. Every year the figure gains 20-30%. “$250 million is quite a modest figure. We have a large potential to raise the export of tourism services by at least 2-3 times,” believes the official. In particular, there are plans to promote combination tours with neighboring countries. “About 2 million tourists stop in the areas Belarus borders on and these tourists are potential guests of our country,” added the Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister.

The clearly outlined seasonal trends in the Belarusian tourism market are another problem. “The tourism market slumps considerably from September till April. Hotels and sanatorium treatment make up for it a bit during the period but there is no complex solution to the problem yet,” concluded Cheslav Shulga.