MINSK, 14 March (BelTA) – More than 4,400 foreign nationals from 59 countries took advantage of the five-day visa-free entry and visited Belarus during the first month since the new regulations came into force, Anton Bychkovsky, the official representative of the State Border Committee, told BelTA.

Over the period from 12 February when the new regulations were launched to 13 March, Belarus welcomed 4,438 foreign nationals. Most of them were German nationals (710 people), Poland (548), Italy (479), France (250), the UK (247). Citizens of such countries as Uruguay, Panama, Namibia, Andorra, and Malaysia have started using the opportunity of visa-free travel to Belarus.

All in all, during the time that the visa-free entry has been in force, Belarus has welcomed 10,477 foreign nationals. Some did not use the visa-free travel option as they either intended to stay in the country for more than five days or already had a Belarusian visa. During the similar period in 2016, the country welcomed 7,890 visitors from the same states.

“Thus we see that the passenger traffic has been growing. We cannot say that this is mainly due to the visa-free entry. The passenger traffic increases from year to year, including through Minsk National Airport. But the new regulations have definitely had an impact,” Anton Bychkovsky said.