Leisure tourism expo opens in Minsk

The 26th international exhibition of tourist services Leisure has opened in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

The exhibition is running at Minsk Arena from 18 to 20 April. This is the largest tourism exhibition in Belarus. It serves as an international business platform for countries, regions and travel companies from all over the world that present products and services on the Belarusian market.

"I am grateful to everyone who responded to the invitation and came to Minsk to demonstrate their best tourist opportunities. Belarus actively pursues an active policy to support and promote tourism, especially in terms of legislative regulation. Thus, by decree of the head of state, the country waived visas for the neighboring countries. Travelers from these countries come and see how our country lives and develops. Belarusians are a very hospitable nation, and this is our national trait," Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko said.

He thanked his Russian colleagues calling the cooperation with Russia as the most important element in the development of joint tourism potential. "The second Belarusian-Russian Tourism Congress showed that the tourism sector in our countries is actively growing. We are interested in our people traveling and getting positive emotions," Igor Petrishenko noted. “Last year alone, 5 million Russians visited Belarus. I am sure that this year we will host as many visitors. We are actively developing our infrastructure. Over the past three years, we have commissioned more than 39 facilities to create a comfortable environment for travelers."

This year, the exhibition features more than 300 exhibitors. Among the participating countries are Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Cuba, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. For the first time, all 118 districts of Belarus are featured at the exhibition. Participants and visitors to the exhibition have the opportunity to meet with representatives of world tourism associations, industry regulators, find new customers and partners, and attend the unique business events to learn more about industry trends.

The organizers of the exhibition are the state enterprise BelExpo, the Sport and Tourism Ministry, the National Agency for Tourism. The general partner of the exhibition is Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of the Russian Federation.