Formally, the 2012 tourist season has not yet begun. However, Belarusian recreation facilities became available for booking a couple of months ago and tours have been selling for about six weeks. Tour companies expect this year to be more successful than the last one with its currency shortages and high prices for tour services. They report that demand for traditional destinations such as Egypt, Turkey and Greece presently is almost twice as high as a year ago. Tour operators assume that, following a 30 % drop in 2011, the market is likely to show a 10-15% growth. Inbound tourism is expected to see a rise this year, too. What tourist attractions and travel opportunities in Belarus can be of interest to foreign visitors?
Oh, those Russians
According to Belarus’ State Border Committee, 5877.2 thousand foreign citizens visited our country in 2011 (exclusive of those who entered Belarus from Russia) – up by 3.6 % compared to 2010. 60.5 % of all international visitors had private invitations, another 7 % came for business, and only 1.1 % visited Belarus with purely tourist purposes. According to the National Center for Health Improvement and Recreation, 193.5 thousand foreigners stayed at Belarusian health resorts last year. As may be expected, Russians, not taken into account by the ‘borderline statistics’, dominate as the most common foreign nationality in Belarusian health retreats. This year is unlikely to be an exception as the number of early bookings for the upcoming summer made by Russians is record high, Belarusian travel agencies report. “This year Russians are interested in visiting Belarus as much as in the past years. We expect that they will book more than 50 % of our recreation accommodation. I have long recommended Belarusians booking tours early, not at the last minute,” says Oleg Mikhailov, head of the Tsentrkurort state travel agency. Tending to plan their vacations well in advance, our eastern neighbors do not have problems with booking tours that sell out easily. When their last-minute requests for a room are denied because a health resort is fully booked, Belarusians often tell stories about double standards and preferential treatment of richer foreign visitors. “There are still early booking deals available, you just need to hurry up,” Tsentrkurort representatives say.
In early spring the national tour operator came up with a brand-new proposition for Belarusian tourist market. The Whole Belarus project encompasses a full range of the country’s most popular tour services. “The idea was to have one large company that would offer about 80% of all Belarusian tour products. Presently our database includes about twenty national park-based health spas and recreation products as well as a variety of guided tours,” says Oleg Mikhailov. This program was designed specifically for professional international market players who bring foreign tourists to Belarus. Foreign companies can get comprehensive information about tourism and leisure in Belarus from a single source. The project is unique as it combines all travel options and products that previously were scattered across the industry. Some inbound tour operators would focus on guided tours, others specialized in spa & wellness. An online travel shop is to be launched at the end of this month. Visitors will be able to book and pay for hotels and health retreats online. “First of all, we focus on Russian visitors, but holiday-makers from the Baltic and other neighboring countries also travel to Belarus,” says Oleg Mikhailov. It is clear that the Belarusian recreation facilities will continue to see great demand. Presently Belarus has 109 health resorts. A two-week stay costs about $600-1000 with food and medical services included. It is not expensive for foreign citizens. Remarkably, prices in the recreation sector did not rise much despite high inflation. The price per night averages Br 100-300 thousand.
Dental travels
Medical tourism is another trend that will certainly become very popular this year. Dental travel is quite common in the West: visiting a dentist in their home countries might be exorbitant for Europeans and Americans who do not have health insurance. Going to a foreign country with low cost medical services is a good solution, all the more so because Belarus can boast high-quality dental treatments. Every tenth patient of Belarusian private clinics is Russian, report tour companies. The ruble depreciation has made local health services even more attractive to foreign visitors. Dental services in Minsk are two times as cheap as in St. Petersburg and three times as cheap as in Moscow. Dental filling costs $10-15, a denture is $100-150, and tooth extraction costs about $3.
