Among foreign countries, Armenia, Tajikistan and Turkey were the most in demand in early May.

On July 23, the Coronavirus Operational Headquarters announced the opening of new routes. Flights to Bahrain, the Dominican Republic, Moldova, as well as to Egyptian resorts are opened.

Flights and tourist traffic from Russia amidst pandemic (weekly update)

The process of resuming flights between Russia and other states will be very long and phased due to the arrival of the second wave of COVID-19 in different regions of the world.

On September 1, the authorities of Belarus and Russia agreed to resume mutual air traffic. Air traffic will be restored in stages. The decision was made following the talks in Moscow.

The border between Russia and Belarus can be opened only in late July - early August. Until this date, Russians will not be able to go to foreign resorts via a neighboring state.

The Belarusian Railway has temporarily canceled train connections to Moscow and St. Petersburg from April 5 due to the closure of the Russian border due to the situation with the coronavirus.

Experts from Aeroclub business tourism agency analyzed airline reservations made by business representatives from Russia over five years, and found out what trends changed in business trips to neighboring countries in 2019.

“In 2017 Belarus was visited by 192 thousand Russian tourists, which is 68% of the total cross-border tourist traffic and 247 thousand Belarusian visited Russia”, - reported the press service of Rosturizm. The tourist exchange between the countries was discussed at the meeting of the Head of Rosturism Oleg Safonov with the delegation of Republic of Belarus, which included the Minister of Sport and Tourism of the country Sergei Kovalchuk, the vice-president of Belarusian National Olympic Committee Andrei Astashevich and the adviser of Belarusian Embassy in Russia Natalia Vashchilo.

“The low-cost airline Pobeda (part of the Aeroflot group) has received admission of Rosaviatsia to perform regular flights to Belarus”, - informs the press service of the company. The carrier was allowed to fly on the routes St. Petersburg-Minsk and Moscow-Gomel, in both cases up to 7 times a week.

The flow of Russian tourists to Belarus in the current year decreased by 10% compared with 2014, the Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism Michael Taylor said at a press conference in Minsk on Friday. "The flow of Russians dropped by about 10%. This is also reflected in the export of tourism services," he said. The main reason for this situation, according to the deputy minister, is "unstable situation on the Russian financial market and reduced solvency of the Russians." Michael Portnoy noticed that the proportion of Russians in the total number of foreign tourists in Belarus earlier was approximately 70%. In connection with the changed situation Belarusian side is trying to diversify its markets.