MINSK, 7 July (BelTA) – The potential of the tourism industry has not been used in full, First Vice-Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said during a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers which considered the intermediate results of the national tourism development programme for 2006-2010 on 7 July. “There are some things we need to think over. There are many serious issues in the implementation of the programme,” Vladimir Semashko said. Services including tourism services make a contribution to GDP. Now the share of services account for 38.8% of GDP in Belarus. This is not high; in developed countries the share is twice as much, Vladimir Semashko said. In H1 the services industry posted the growth of 13% from the same period 2008. The H1 growth projections were 40%. “Belarus started developing the tourism industry from scratch. Not all reserves have been used yet,” he said. Some 91,600 foreign visitors came to Belarus last year, though the country was hoping to attract 120,000. The tourism revenues target was not met either. “We earned $365.3 million, well below the $486mn target,” Vladimir Semashko said. He also criticized the uneven distribution of funding across the regions. Thus the Minsk oblast utilized Br16.5 billion instead of the allocated Br60.2 billion. The Gomel oblast, on the country, was much ahead of schedule. It used Br147.5 billion instead of Br46.2 billion. A bilateral agreement on international road communication with the Russian Federation has not been signed yet. The document was expected to be inked back in 2006. The absence of such a document also affects the development of tourism and transport services. According to Vladimir Semashko, there is a need to update some of the measures stipulated in the national tourism development programme. “Some measures do not correspond with reality,” he believes. There are objective factors which affect the tourism industry development. This is, first of all, the impact of the global financial crisis and we need to take it into consideration, Vladimir Semashko said. “It is also necessary to take into account the nuances connected with Belarus’ participation in the Eastern Partnership programme”. First of all this is the construction of international transport corridor No. 9. New ministers of transport and communications and sport and tourism need to think over this issue, Vladimir Semashko said.

БЕЛТА