Tourist from London runs away after three days in Belarus
A Briton has spent $500 within three days in the Belarusian capital, asking: "How can you survive on $300 a month?!" This story was told to Euroradio by a staffer with one of Minsk's biggest travel agencies.
Travel agent: “We were approached by a tourist frorm London who wanted to stay for 10 days in Belarus. He refused from a translator, saying he had already been to Moldova, Russia and Ukraine and had no language problem. He arrived but came to us again three days later, saying he wanted a ticket to go back home. When we started asking what had happened, he said: "I can't stay here any longer! I can't read in Russian; I didn't see any Latin letter. It's very expensive here. Taxi is more expensive than in London. Pubs, clubs, transport are more expensive! I have spent $500 for three days". Finally, he asked: "How can you survive here on $300 per month?!”
The travel agency sorted the situation out but were disappointed.
Travel agent: “We got him a ticket and he left. But it didn't feel good... He made a good comparison of our country with a beautiful wife: when you have a beautiful wife but have no understanding with her, you can only admire her… He said everything seemed good. People were good. Everything was clean and beautiful around. But there are no basics on which one can build relationship in the country”.
How much does a foreigner spend a week in Belarus in average?
Travel agent: “If this is a three-star hotel with breakfast plus the visa support, it will be $600-650 per week. If there is a need of the transfer from/to the airport, it will be $750 per week”.
We should not forget to add the cost of the Belarusian visa, which is not cheap at all!
Travel agent: “60 euros for those from Central Europe, if they get a visa from a Belarusian consulate. For Britons, it is higher: 120 or 130 euros, I guess".
Do such Draconic conditions help the flow of tourists into Belarus? According to the National Statistics Committee, our country was visited by 95500 tourists, including 59900 from CIS countries in 2009. They stayed an average of 5 days. This year, the number of tourists has increased by 20.9 percent against the first six months in the year before, according to the National Statistics Committee.
However, travel agents maintain there are significantly less foreigners this year than in 2009. "Unfortunately, there are less foreign tourists this year than last year. Mainly, this is because of higher visa fees at the airport. This year, there were 80 percent people less to get visas at the airport than last year. There is no growth", says another travel agent.
Most of them claim Belarus needs to work on its image and to improve service in order to attract tourists from around the world".
Belarus' hospitality
Language remains a problem...
We can only dream about this number of tourists like in European capitals
Travel agent: “We were approached by a tourist frorm London who wanted to stay for 10 days in Belarus. He refused from a translator, saying he had already been to Moldova, Russia and Ukraine and had no language problem. He arrived but came to us again three days later, saying he wanted a ticket to go back home. When we started asking what had happened, he said: "I can't stay here any longer! I can't read in Russian; I didn't see any Latin letter. It's very expensive here. Taxi is more expensive than in London. Pubs, clubs, transport are more expensive! I have spent $500 for three days". Finally, he asked: "How can you survive here on $300 per month?!”
The travel agency sorted the situation out but were disappointed.
Travel agent: “We got him a ticket and he left. But it didn't feel good... He made a good comparison of our country with a beautiful wife: when you have a beautiful wife but have no understanding with her, you can only admire her… He said everything seemed good. People were good. Everything was clean and beautiful around. But there are no basics on which one can build relationship in the country”.
How much does a foreigner spend a week in Belarus in average?
Travel agent: “If this is a three-star hotel with breakfast plus the visa support, it will be $600-650 per week. If there is a need of the transfer from/to the airport, it will be $750 per week”.
We should not forget to add the cost of the Belarusian visa, which is not cheap at all!
Travel agent: “60 euros for those from Central Europe, if they get a visa from a Belarusian consulate. For Britons, it is higher: 120 or 130 euros, I guess".
Do such Draconic conditions help the flow of tourists into Belarus? According to the National Statistics Committee, our country was visited by 95500 tourists, including 59900 from CIS countries in 2009. They stayed an average of 5 days. This year, the number of tourists has increased by 20.9 percent against the first six months in the year before, according to the National Statistics Committee.
However, travel agents maintain there are significantly less foreigners this year than in 2009. "Unfortunately, there are less foreign tourists this year than last year. Mainly, this is because of higher visa fees at the airport. This year, there were 80 percent people less to get visas at the airport than last year. There is no growth", says another travel agent.
Most of them claim Belarus needs to work on its image and to improve service in order to attract tourists from around the world".
Belarus' hospitality
Language remains a problem...
We can only dream about this number of tourists like in European capitals
