Belovezhskaya Pushcha Awaits Over 500,000 Tourists This Year
BelTA / belarusfeed. Photo: Alex Marakhovets
9 May 2018, 11:14
Belarusians are known as one of the most hospitable nations in the world. This year we expect to welcome more than 500,000 tourists in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha national park.
Are you one of them?
Last year 465,000 tourists visited the national park to take a look at the rare animal. About 70,000 of them were foreigners.
This year even more guests from other countries are expected, according to Director General of the park Alexander Bury.
“I think we will surpass the mark of 500,000,” he has recently stated.
This became possible after the national park has been included in the Brest tourist and recreation zone with a ten-day visa-free stay for foreign citizens.
Interestingly, the number of Belarusian tourists has also been steadily rising.
“The number of tourists visiting the pushcha via the border crossing point increases every year, with a 2-3-time progress.
After the new free-visa rules were introduced, the border checkpoint was crossed by about 1,500 tourists within the first year, and 3,500 tourists within the second one.
Last year the number of tourists made up about 5,000. In January-April 2018 we have already surpassed the last year’s figures,” the director general of the park said.
The northern part of the park has been recently used more actively for recreational purposes.
“The tourist potential of the national park is huge. We should understand that the pushcha is a living organism which will not tolerate the recreational burden for too long.
We have been developing the central and northern parts of the park in order to give a break to its southern part with a well-developed infrastructure,” Alexander Bury stressed.
9 May 2018, 11:14
Are you one of them?
Last year 465,000 tourists visited the national park to take a look at the rare animal. About 70,000 of them were foreigners.
This year even more guests from other countries are expected, according to Director General of the park Alexander Bury.
“I think we will surpass the mark of 500,000,” he has recently stated.
This became possible after the national park has been included in the Brest tourist and recreation zone with a ten-day visa-free stay for foreign citizens.
Interestingly, the number of Belarusian tourists has also been steadily rising.
“The number of tourists visiting the pushcha via the border crossing point increases every year, with a 2-3-time progress.
After the new free-visa rules were introduced, the border checkpoint was crossed by about 1,500 tourists within the first year, and 3,500 tourists within the second one.
Last year the number of tourists made up about 5,000. In January-April 2018 we have already surpassed the last year’s figures,” the director general of the park said.
The northern part of the park has been recently used more actively for recreational purposes.
“The tourist potential of the national park is huge. We should understand that the pushcha is a living organism which will not tolerate the recreational burden for too long.
We have been developing the central and northern parts of the park in order to give a break to its southern part with a well-developed infrastructure,” Alexander Bury stressed.
