Exploring Belarus: popular routes and unique places in Minsk and Minsk Region
Time to Relax
According to the sb.by portal, in recent years, Belarusians have become more active in travelling within their own country. Tourism is one of the priorities of the country's socio-economic development. On February 7th, at a press conference at the House of Press, the most developed types of tourism in Minsk and its region were examined.
Minsk is the major centre for services and jobs in tourism. The Director of the Minsk Tourist Information Centre, Aleksei Rusakevich, notes that the city is an active hub that shapes Belarus' image in the world.
“Its modern hospitality infrastructure allows participants in major national and international events, sports forums, cultural and concert tours, to be welcomed and accommodated in comfort.”
There are 17 theatres, 30 museums, and over 10 galleries in the city. Still, the greatest popularity among tourists belongs to the historic centre of Minsk - the Upper Town, Rakovskoye and Trinity Suburbs. Soon, a city folklore centre will be established there with regular workshops and gastronomic evenings in the national style. Overall, the city's travel agencies actively develop and provide tours, excursions and thematic routes that include visits to catering facilities and tastings of national cuisine.
In total, about 40 programmes for walking and bus tours have been created in Minsk. The most popular route among foreign tourists is a sightseeing tour around the capital, which includes four stops, the Upper Town, Nezavisimosti Square, Trinity Suburb, and the National Library.
Speaking of novelties in excursion routes, Aleksei Rusakevich noted that bicycle tourism has been actively developing in the city. “Last year, we evolved bicycle and walking routes in all districts of Minsk, ranging from 5 to 10 kilometres, and thus formed a large city bicycle and walking route. We decided not to stop there. Currently, there is a competition for another city bike route and its results will be announced in February. It is closer to the summer season that the winning projects will appear on the official tourist portal of Minsk.”
Recently, Belarusians have become more active in travelling within their own country, and understandably so. The tourism potential is enormous. Within the Minsk Region alone, there are over 120 hotels, 116 sanatorium-resort and recreational organisations, 34 hunting complexes, and 365 agro-ecotourism entities.
The Deputy Head of Sports and Tourism Main Department of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee, Vladimir Gubarevich, stated that agro-ecotourism is a very promising direction for the regional tourism industry development. “Agro-estates offer not only accommodation services but also actively promote gastronomic tourism and organise excursions, workshops, and tastings of their own products. In Volozhin District, for example, guests become acquainted with Belarusian bread-baking traditions, while in Borisov District, they learn about the traditions of nomadic peoples, and in Minsk, they taste grape snails...”
Industrial tourism is becoming popular, allowing visitors to see the production process at various enterprises. BelAZ ranks first among tourists, while 50,000 people visited it last year.
