Belarus' export of tourism services in 2019 came at over $250 million, 114.% as against 2018, the Belarusian Sport and Tourism Ministry said at its final board meeting on 12 February, BelTA has learned.
The State Border Committee of Belarus reported that in 2019 Belarus saw more than 4.924 million foreign visitors.
Belarus has stepped up work to liberalize visa rules and promote inbound tourism. For example, since the visa-free travel program was launched (in line with the decree of 9 January 2017), more than 350,000 people from 70 countries have visited Belarus. In 2019 this number rose by 40.3% over 2018.
After the decree on visa-free travel of foreign citizens that united two separate visa-free areas into the Brest-Grodno visa-free area came into force, 31,000 tourists from 42 countries visited this region.
Moreover, Belarus took part in 15 international tourism expos, presented Belarus' travel opportunities abroad ten times, organized 14 tours for representatives of the travel industry of foreign countries, and held workshops and roundtables featuring international experts.
