The number of rural homestead owners in Belarus increased 1.9 times in 2009

February 10, Minsk /Andrei Asfura - BELTA/. The number of agro-ecotourism entities in Belarus increased 1.9 times in 2009 compared to the previous year. Yulia Kopot, Head of the Marketing and Quality of Tourist Services Department of the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, told a BELTA correspondent about this. As of January 1, 2010, there are 884 agro-ecotourism entities in Belarus. All of them have been registered and, if they have equipped homesteads, can accommodate tourists. The largest number of rural homestead owners are in the Vitebsk region - 222 entities, followed closely by the Minsk region (214 entities), and the Grodno region is in third place (181 entities). In the Brest region, 124 entities have expressed a desire and received the opportunity to engage in agro-tourism activities. The Mogilev region has 75 agro-ecotourism entities, and the Gomel region has 68 entities. Rural tourism is just beginning to develop in these regions, so the number of homesteads in each region is more than 3 times less than in the Vitebsk region. Despite the fact that the number of rural homestead owners is approaching the 1,000 mark, only about half of the registered agro-ecotourism entities are actively receiving tourists. The fact is that some homesteads are undergoing reconstruction, and many houses are unsuitable for travelers to stay in during the winter period. -0-