Tourism In Belarus Under Threat
- 5.03.2020, 14:48
The Union of Tourism Organizations is sounding the alarm.
The Republican Union of Tourism Organizations (RUTO) published an open letter stating that the tourism industry, like other sectors of the economy, is at risk due to the panic about the coronavirus. The RUTO believes that if the situation is not taken under control, tourists may find themselves without the opportunity to travel, plan their holidays, and thus inbound tourism will be lost, that is, the export of services on which the state has high hopes, Brestskaya Gazeta writes.
“At present, neither the World Health Organization, nor the World Tourism Organization, nor other competent organizations have issued recommendations to refrain from travel and tourist trips. The WHO controls the situation, and made a formal statement that there was no need to cancel or amend travel plans,” the letter said.
Against the background of recommendations to refrain from traveling to China, Italy, Iran and South Korea, Belarusian tourists began to refuse to travel to other countries. Cancellation attempts and cancellations of the booked tours at the end of summer, autumn have already begun.
In this case, Belarusian tourist operators and agents are forced to return the money. At the same time, carriers do not stop flights and do not return funds for tickets sold. Foreign partners set penalties. Travel insurance, as it turned out, does not work in the case of coronavirus and quarantine.
The letter also says that, in the opinion of international structures in the field of health and tourism, most countries are now safe, only China made a statement on quarantine and force majeure.
“Due to the lack of complete and convincing information about the situation in the world, uncoordinated actions, artificial aggravation of the situation in the media, the tourism industry in Belarus, following Russia, has been put in a state of serious collapse. The situation is heating up every day, and today no one can predict the consequences,” writes the RUTO.
Representatives of the tourism industry argue that the situation in inbound and domestic tourism is not better. Export of tourism services in Belarus has also been threatened. For example, a number of metropolitan hotels sent letters to tour operators about the refusal to accommodate tourists from Italy, China, South Korea and Iran. And the penalties again fall on domestic operators.
In addition, the RUTO reports that groups of tourists not only from Europe, but also from Russia, massively cancel their visits to Belarus. Hotel enterprises of Minsk and other cities suffer losses, economic indicators of districts and regional tourism infrastructure objects are falling. The activities of the national carriers are at stake. Departmental structures send out recommendations that worsen Belarus’s reputation as a travel-friendly country. Belarusian museums, hotels, other infrastructure are already suffering from the lack of customers.
The Republican Union of Tourism Organizations urges tourists not to panic, and the media to be wary of publications related to coronavirus.
The RUTO calls on all interested departments - the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Economy, the National Air Carrier Belavia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, public associations in the field of tourism - for joint development of measures to resolve the situation and prevent collapse in the economy as a whole and in Belarusian tourism in particular.