All roads lead to Belarus

Key trends in the development of domestic tourism in the 2025 season

Belarus’ tourism industry is transforming. Indeed, every cloud has a silver lining: after the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of global geopolitical shifts, the state and business have reoriented themselves, and Belarusians are now offered a plethora of new options for holidays and travel abroad, but most importantly, within the country. New avenues for the development of inbound tourism have been identified. The task for the next few years is to shift from quantity to quality.

Avia Mensk Recreation Centre, trike flight over Minsk District       Ilya Shvedko

Growth vectors

Gates of Minsk opposite the main train station        Aleksandr Kulevsky 

The tourism industry has tremendous potential for development. Doubling the indicators — why not? Belstat [Belarus’ National Statistical Committee] has calculated that the tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP is currently two percent (excluding related industries). By 2040, it could skyrocket to five percent, as stipulated in Belarus’ National Strategy for Sustainable Development until 2040.
Deputy Minister of Economy Yelena Boligatova believes that the task is quite ambitious and requires intensive work, yet it is entirely feasible. In her opinion, the most popular destinations — medical tourism and spa treatment — have the greatest prospects for growth. New accommodation facilities are emerging, and the popularity of wellness services is increasing. The Economy Ministry sees a need to improve the quality of service and enhance infrastructure. The state is ready to support projects for the construction of hotel and spa complexes, the creation of local glamping sites, and more — anything that can generate profit and boost the tourism image of the country and its regions.
In turn, Belarus’ Sports and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk is confident that ecological, industrial, gastronomic, and agro-ecotourism can be added to the list of the most promising tourism destinations.

Focus on wellness

Sanatorium Yunost [Youth], Minsk District             Aleksei Matyush 

Sanatorium and health resort tourism attracts foreign visitors to Belarus and is one of the favourite holiday and relaxation options for Belarusians. Last year was the most successful in the work of the republic’s sanatorium and health improvement complex — both in absolute figures and in the dynamics of growth of individual indicators (see the infographic). More than 1,568 million people underwent sanatorium treatment and health improvement — six percent more than in 2023, and 13 percent more than in the pre-pandemic 2019! The average occupancy of the health and wellness complex reached a record 84.3 percent. This season, it will obviously be even higher.
Many foreigners visit Belarusian health resorts both in the high season and in the off-season: last year, there were as many as 246,500, and this season the depth of bookings is even greater. At the same time, the state continues to maintain the accessibility of vouchers for citizens of Belarus, assures Gennady Bolbatovsky, Director of the Republican Centre for Health Improvement and Sanatorium-Resort Treatment of the Population, “Money from the national budget and social insurance fund has been allocated in sufficient amounts. The number of citizens of the preferential category sent for health improvement has not been reduced — on the contrary, the number of vouchers for non-working citizens and disabled people will be increased in 2025. We plan to fulfil all social obligations and all measures of state programmes.” 

Country’s shop window

BELAZ — a major world manufacturer of mining dump trucks, Zhodino        Yelizaveta Kobetskaya


The emergence of industrial tourism in Belarus in its current form and its triumphant march across the country has happened within the last decade, featuring introductory, career guidance, image-building, and event-based tours. You need to book visits to legendary enterprises months in advance. The number of 267,000 visitors last year — exceeding the 2023 figure by 30 percent — represents a significant leap forward.
One of the trends for the 2025 season is the growth of not only collective but also mixed groups for visiting enterprises. Industry professionals are predicting further growth in this sector. “Industrial tourism is not only a crucial tool for developing domestic tourism and preparing the future professional workforce for enterprises, but also a tool for attracting foreign tourists who want to learn more and see how our famous products are made,” explained Dmitry Morozov, Director of the National Tourism Agency. “It helps to promote Belarus as a multifaceted tourist destination.”   
  

New additions to the map

 Lyubcha, Grodno Region             Aleksei Matyush 


Interest in domestic tourism is fuelled by regularly emerging new tourism products and the steady development of infrastructure. The Republican Union of Tourist Organisations (RUTO) has recently listed the most significant developments of late.
On December 4th, 2024, Belarusian ‘vytinanka’ [traditional art of paper cutting] was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The defensive walls of Novogrudok Castle have been restored. The Volozhin Yeshiva [Jewish religious school] has reopened after a lengthy restoration. The renovation of Lyubcha Castle is in its final stages.
The reconstruction of Krevo and Golshany castles continues — these sites are available for partial viewing. A new 12-kilometre water-based eco-tourism route has appeared in the Ozery nature reserve in Grodno Region, traversing the region’s largest natural body of water — Lake Beloye. A 12-kilometre cycling route has been established in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. A new museum has opened on the grounds of the memorial complex In Memory of Children — Victims of War in the agrotown of Krasny Bereg, Zhlobin District. In Vitebsk, the eponymous hotel has reopened after revamping, alleviating the pressure caused by a shortage of accommodation for numerous tourists. Countryside complexes have been renovated, the medical infrastructure of sanatoriums has been upgraded, and many regional tourist routes and excursions have emerged — the list goes on, but it all needs to be seen. 

    

All flags are welcome

BelExpo International Exhibition Centre in Minsk              Aleksandr Kulevsky


The recent opening of the Minsk International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) will be a significant boost for business tourism.
According to Lyubov Smirnova, Head of International Co-operation and Special Projects Department at BelExpo, there is a high level of interest in the MIEC, particularly from the Russian exhibition community. A business mission will soon be formed for the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs (RUEF) — organisers of the major expositions will come to Minsk with specific projects already in mind. The calendar of events for 2025–2026 is filling up. Notably, the MIEC plans to host not only exhibitions, but also large congresses.
An interdepartmental working group on the development of business tourism is inspecting regions to assess the prospects for this sector outside the capital city, and to lay the foundation for future work. This includes, in particular, the development of modern hotel infrastructure. As of the beginning of 2025, Belarus had 618 hotels and similar accommodation facilities, capable of accommodating more than 39,000 people simultaneously. The long-term goal is to link the hotel stock to the organisation of business forums.

Under the banner of Great Victory

Brest Hero-Fortress Memorial Complex                     Ilya Shvedko

This year is being marked, including in the realm of tourism, under the banner of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. The peak for excursions is in May, and many landmark sites — museums, memorial complexes and others — are receiving visitors at their maximum capacity. However, specialists are suggesting alternative infrastructure sites to visit — fortunately there are plenty of worthy locations in Belarus. Tourist information centres (TIC) are ready to assist in creating itineraries around the country; there are already over 40 of them, and the network is increasing every month (TIC details and co-ordinates can be found on the National Tourism Agency website). 
Furthermore, so-called flagship tourist routes, a kind of landmark for the regions, are being created in each of Belarus’ 118 districts. In essence, these are recommendations on what visitors can see in a five-to-six-hour trip to get an impression of the district.
Information about the most interesting routes can be found on the belarus.travel portal or on the information resources of the sports and tourism departments of district and city executive committees, and tourist information centres. Another tip for travellers around Belarus is the calendar of events, which is compiled quarterly, regularly updated, and available on the National Tourism Agency website (www.belarustourism.by) and the belarus.travel portal.

Republican landscape reserve Ozery, Grodno Region         Kirill Stasko

By Aleksandr Nesterov