Africa-Press – Eswatini. In August 2023, six new members were invited to join BRICS, including Argentina, which declined to join in late December. The five new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt – began full work in BRICS on January 1, 2024.
By the end of 2024, the flow of tourists between BRICS countries may grow almost four times, up to 5 million trips, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said.
“By the end of 2024, the roadmap measures are projected to increase tourist exchanges between the countries of the association to 5 million trips, taking into account the expanded composition of BRICS. This is almost four times higher than the indicators of 2023 – the tourist flow amounted to 1.4 million people,” the ministry said.
The ministry also revealed that during the first meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Tourism, Russia proposed to the BRICS member states to create a working group on tourism as well as to approve a roadmap for tourism cooperation for 2024-2026.
The participants of the meeting supported the Russian initiatives and noted that with their help, the BRICS countries will be able to improve communication between tourism business players and increase mutual tourist traffic, the authorities added.In addition, the BRICS Tourism Forum will be held in Moscow, on the sidelines of which the first meeting of the working group on tourism and the traditional meeting of tourism ministers of the BRICS countries will take place. It was announced by the Director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, Nikita Kondratyev, as quoted by the press service of the ministry.
“The forum will take place in Moscow. It will bring together the largest representatives of the tourism industry of the BRICS countries and will allow companies to establish new business ties and tourists – to get acquainted with the tourism potential of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, the UAE, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia,” Kondratyev said.
A day earlier, the head of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs, Grigory Karasin, said that the number of countries wishing to join BRICS is growing every month, with more than 40 countries currently applying to join the bloc.
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