The Ministry of Economy plans to equate trips to Belarus to domestic tourism

The Ministry of Economy is working on measures that will promote the development of tourism between Russia and Belarus. Among them is the introduction of zero VAT on organized tours between the two countries, which currently only applies to trips within Russia.

“We are working on proposals to introduce zero VAT on tours within the Union State. We currently have zero VAT only on domestic tourism, we want to effectively equate our tourist exchange with Belarus to domestic tourism,” said the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov at a joint meeting of the boards of the Ministry of Economy of Russia and Belarus in Brest (quote from “Interfax”).

He added that the ministry plans to remove obligations from Russian tour operators to contribute to the reserve fund from tours to Belarus and create a joint tourist information center. These decisions, according to Mr. Reshetnikov, will help “strengthen organized tourism and improve the quality of the product.”

In February 2023, Maxim Reshetnikov reportedthat the Ministry of Economy will consider the possibility of reducing the amount of insurance compensation for tour operators who organize trips to Belarus. Work, he said, was also carried out to synchronize legislation in the tourism industry.

Petr Buzlaev