In 2015, guests from 10 new countries visited the Vitebsk region

The geography of export of tourist services of the Vitebsk region expanded to 10 countries in 2015, reported the Deputy Head of the Sports and Tourism Department of the Regional Executive Committee Daria Matskevich.

"Compared to 2014, the diversification of export of tourist services in the region has expanded to 10 countries: Australia, Greece, Argentina, Maldives, Thailand, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Tunisia, Qatar, Sudan. These are not only organized tourists who arrived with a tour package, but also guests who visited us on a business trip or for some other reason," noted Daria Matskevich.

The volume of export of tourist (primarily complex) services rendered to guests from Turkmenistan (3.8 times) and Uzbekistan (3.6 times) has significantly increased. Largely, these results were achieved thanks to marketing events, for which over Br432 million were spent in 2015. Nevertheless, the absolute majority of tourists are still Russians, although their share in the structure of export of tourist services by country is gradually decreasing: in 2013 and 2014 it was 95% and 91% respectively, and in 2015 it was already 86.8%.

Tourist services to the population in the Vitebsk region are provided by 116 organizations, 65% of which are only involved in outbound tourism. Operators working in inbound tourism have significantly reduced their performance in providing a complex of services.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, BELTA.