MINSK, April 9. /TASS/. The tourism landscape has change drastically in Russia over the past several years, as more people are choosing to travel domestically these days, Deputy General Director of TASS Andrey Sokolov said at the Third Belarusian-Russian Tourist Congress.

"I can say that probably over the last several years - the nature of tourist flows has definitely changed a lot," Sokolov said. Russians have started choosing domestic destinations more and more frequently, he noted. "And now we are witnessing what could be called fierce competition between regions for tourists," the TASS executive said.

Sokolov noted that even areas which wouldn’t traditionally be considered travel destinations have seen an uptick in interest from Russians. "Everyone is battling for a piece of the tourist pie, and as a result quality has improved. I travel a lot across Russia - and hotel and restaurant services have gotten better," he said. Belarus is getting in on the action too, with both the country as a whole and individual regions receiving more Russians in recent years, Sokolov added.

TASS is the general information partner of the Third Belarusian-Russian Tourist Congress in Minsk.