BREST, 11 February (BelTA) - The number of visa-free tourists who entered Belarus through the Brest Oblast border checkpoints increased by 70% in January of this year as against the same period of 2018, BelTA learned from the sport and tourism department of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee.
Approximately 32,000 foreign nationals visited Brest Oblast without visas in 2019. In January of 2020 the region welcomed 2,200 tourists from 29 counties. Some 80% of visa-free tourists were Poles. Brest Oblast has had visitors from Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, the UK, and Belgium.
In January the region was mostly visited by individual travelers. Only a third of tourists came as part of tour groups. “The tourist flow is increasing. We hope more tourists will visit Polesye. We are also working to integrate tourism products of Brest Oblast and Grodno Oblast and their routes with European ones,” the sports and tourism department reported.
The department noted that the time tourists spend in Brest Oblast is increasing. It used to be three days on the average, now it is four. Some 70% of foreign guests stay over night.
The 2020 calendar of tourist events in Brest Oblast includes more than 100 events of different scope. For example, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park will host a food festival on 22 February. Another one will be held in Brest in the spring. At least four cycling festivals will be organized in the region this year. One of the major events is the international forum for tourism due in Brest in the end of April.
