Visiting ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ (and one of its booziest nations) is about to get much easier

There are many reasons why rational travellers might not have considered a trip Belarus. Nicknamed ‘the last dictatorship in Europe’, this authoritarian destination is one of the few countries that retains the death penalty, is regularly criticised for human rights violations, and still calls its intelligence agency the KGB.

That’s not all. According to the World Health Organisation, Belarus is the second most alcohol-dependant nation on Earth, while its capital, Minsk, is regularly ranked the least livable city in Europe.

Minsk was ranked by Mercer as the least livable capital city in Europe CREDIT: AP/FOTOLIA

If that isn’t enough to deter you, perhaps the laborious process of entering the country will: while the Iron Curtain crumbled many moons ago, the process of getting a Belarusian visa can feel vaguely reminiscent of the Soviet days. You have to be determined to visit this country.

But not for much longer. In signs that Belarus is coming in from the cold, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced it will be offering visa-free travel for citizens of 80 countries, including the United Kingdom.

Visas will be waived as of next month and will cover a five-day stay in the country, providing you enter via Minsk National Airport (also known as Minsk-2).

According to official figures, there were some 137,400 arrivals of foreign tourists in Belarus in 2014. The authorities hope that relaxing visa rules will boost international arrivals by 20 per cent, which equates to just over 27,000 tourists.

Belarus began its visa waiver programme last year when it announced that Israeli and Turkish nationals would not need them to travel to the country.

“Since the launch of visa-free travel, the number of Israeli nationals coming to Belarus has doubled, and the number of visits from Turkey has risen 1.5 times,” Vitaly Gritsevich, of the Belarusian Sport and Tourism Ministry, told the Belarusian Telegraph Agency.



Upon arrival in Minsk, British tourists may soon hear the familiar sound of English-language announcements on the city’s subway; the authorities are considering introducing them to help tourists navigate the city, which was obliterated during the Second World War and rebuilt in the austere Soviet style.

Belarus is not the only authoritarian destination looking to boost tourism. Despite being the world’s most secretive state, North Korea recently set out its ambitions to welcome two million tourists per year by 2020. More surprising still, in 2016 the Syrian Ministry of Tourism released a promotional video marketing holidays to the war-torn country.

Belarus and North Korea have similar motivations for turning to tourism: over the years the economies in both countries have relied heavily on trade with Russia, but as the Russian economy stalls its dependants have been forced to look further afield for foreign investment. Tourism - one of the world’s largest industries - seems an obvious place to turn.