Extending registration-free period of stay will help increase the tourist flow to Belarus, Deputy Director of the Tourism Department at the Sports and Tourism Ministry Vitaly Gritsevich told BelTA.
“Extending the registration-free stay of foreign nationals in Belarus from 5 to 10 days was an urgent issue. We have been taking consistent steps to make Belarus more friendly to tourists and, accordingly, reduce the barriers that inhibit the growth of tourist traffic. Thus, Belarus extended the visa-free entry period to 30 days provided foreign nationals cross the border at the Minsk National Airport in 2018. Decree No. 300, which allows visa-free stay in Brest Oblast and Grodno Oblast for 15 days, came in to force on 10 November this year. Extending the period during which it is possible to stay in the country without having to register also improves the conditions for the development of tourism,” Vitaly Gritsevich said.
In addition, since 2 January 2019, foreign citizens have had the opportunity to register online, without having to contact the internal affairs authorities. According to Vitaly Gritsevich, the extension of the period during which a foreigner can stay in the country without registration for up to 10 days, is a logical step to further ease the conditions of stay for tourists.
He noted that relaxing registration requirements will make life easier for individual travelers, who usually have to perform administrative procedures on their own, while an organized group has the help of a tour operator with such issues. “For individual travelers, some administrative procedures are an additional burden. Now it will be more convenient for them to travel to Belarus,” he said.
According to Vitaly Gritsevich, the measures taken in recent years to stimulate tourism have already yielded results. The export of tourist services went up by 14.8% year-on-year to total $218.8 million in January-October 2019. According to the State Border Committee, almost 4.55 million people arrived in Belarus through international checkpoints in January-November 2019. “We expect this figure to reach 5 million by the end of the year. The year-end calculations will also include the data on the Belarusian-Russian section of the border. In 2018, the incoming tourist flow amounted to 11.5 million. I think we can expect this year's figures to exceed last year's level,” said Vitaly Gritsevich.
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has signed a bill to introduce amendments to the law regulating the rules of stay of foreign nationals and stateless persons in Belarus. Earlier, the bill was passed by the House of Representatives and approved by the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly. The new law has extended the period during which foreigners must register with the local police office in the district in which they are staying from 5 to 10 days. The move is expected to improve the tourist and investment attractiveness of the country and to simplify business and private contacts.
All in all, the document is designed to improve a series of legal norms. With a view to protecting the society and the state from various kinds of threats, the document amends the grounds for visa denial and refusal of entry to Belarus. Simultaneously, the document lays out a mechanism of providing foreigners and their proxies with information on their inclusion in the list of persons whose entry into the Republic of Belarus is prohibited or undesirable.