Almost half a million tourists visited Buryatia

According to Buryatia Statistics Department, 225.4 thousand tourists visited the country in the first half of 2011, which is 16% more than in the same period last year.

Over 450 thousand tourists, including 25 thousand foreigners visited the republic during the first 9 months of this year. The visitors from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk and the Krasnoyarsk Regions are dominating among all domestic tourist arrivals to Buryatia.

46% of tourists arrive for the purpose of leisure and recreation, 24% - for health treatment and recovery and another 24% - come for business.

During the first 9 months of this year 20 thousand citizens of the republic have spent their vacation abroad. Such countries, as Mongolia, China, Turkey and Egypt are in the lead of the tourist flow.