The task to raise international awareness of Belarus requires a comprehensive approach, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said at a meeting to discuss Belarus' foreign policy priorities on 11 July.
“Raising international awareness of Belarus is an important task for Belarus' development that requires a comprehensive approach. The way how Belarus is perceived has vastly changed for the better. Many people in the world now know about Belarus, Minsk, the president. However, we should admit that few know about the country's potential. Therefore, we should use the tourism potential more actively,” Vladimir Makei said. Much has been done to develop Belarus' infrastructure. Now these achievements should be transformed into a factor that will attract tourists, the minister added.
Vladimir Makei noted that the five-day visa-free travel program has already played its role as it led to an increase in the number of tourists. “We moved further by fine-tuning this policy. At the end of the year, we will sum up the results of the program and work out suggestions to further improve this work with the help of the World Tourism Organization,” the minister emphasized.
“The next step is active promotion of the national tourism brand. The international practice shows that spending a small portion of the revenues from tourism business on these purposes will contribute greatly to the development of tourism and generate a considerable economic effect. Relevant integrated proposals will be worked out together with stakeholders,” Vladimir Makei said.