Posted:
24.03.2022 17:13:00
The zest of cornflower country
New routes, online tours, mobile applications, and pilot projects: what will domestic tourism in Belarus rely on in the coming years?
The soul of tourists yearns for new experiences, but travel abroad remains a problem. Therefore, Belarusians more and more prefer the beauties and sights of their own country in the last two years. Now, in order to maintain and strengthen this interest, the main focus is on the development of domestic tourism. These are features and novelties that are going to attract travellers.
The place of hospitality
“We face several global challenges. One of them is certification of guides and guide-interpreters. Over the past year, 32 guides were certified in Minsk, 8 in the Minsk Region, 15 in the Brest Region, 28 in the Grodno Region, 8 in the Gomel Region, 38 in the Vitebsk Region, and 13 in the Mogilev Region. Each Region should make an effort to have guides who can conduct tours in different languages. Sooner or later, the lockdowns will end, people will come to us, so we must be ready to present them the entire tourism potential of the country. By the way, in the past year alone, we have added 15 new tourist routes,” noted Irina Voronovich, director of the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism.
The development of inclusive tourism is a top priority so that everyone can freely travel around the country. On the website of the National Tourism Agency, there is information concerning objects which are ready to have physically challenged guests, how to get there, in which hotel one can comfortably relax.
Regarding the development of tourism infrastructure, the director of the Department said, “For this five-year period, we have planned the introduction of 73 new facilities. There is serious work to be done, but the tasks are clear to us, we are working on them.”
With an eye toward the zest
Each Region of the country is implementing a pilot project in the field of domestic tourism. At the same time, they all have captivating zest associated with cultural and natural features.Brest Region decided to rely on the unique nature and originality of the Region. The pilot ‘Tourist Region of Pripyat Polesie’ project includes Pinsk, Stolin, Luninets, Drogichin, and Ivanovo Districts. Particular attention is paid to the most fascinating and less developed territories.
A network of hiking, water, and bicycle routes will be created along Pripyat Polesie to meet the recreational needs of various categories of visitors. The White Heron agro-tourist cluster is being created in the Pinsk Region. A website and a mobile application for travellers are being developed. The interactive ‘Brest Region: Warming with Beauty tourist’ project offers free online presentations of sights and exciting places, as well as master classes in cooking traditional cuisine. The broadcast is available worldwide, ten online broadcasts have already taken place, which has aroused great interest. The project of the Vitebsk Region under the romantic name ‘Vasilkovy Krai’ (the cornflower country) is designed for the most part for individual tours. A mobile application is being developed so that travellers can create a convenient route themselves. The project involves 12 Districts of the Vitebsk Region, and an interesting feature is connected with this. In each District, tourists will be able to get a piece of a puzzle-magnet, and as a result, they will get a ‘Vasilkovy Krai’ A4-size picture. For those who like to capture themselves in beautiful places, more than 100 selfie spots have been prepared. However, there are enough beauties in the Vitebsk Region: there is the largest stone of the country, the deepest lake, the highest swing, the only floating island, and a unique underwater road. To attract tourists, the Vitebsk Region also uses a rich festival potential. ‘Zvany Safii’, ‘White Amphora’, ‘Ringing dulcimer and accordion’, ‘Dnieper Voices’, ‘Cherry Festival in Glubokoe’, ‘Braslav Lightning’, ‘Zhurauli i zhuraviny’ and, of course, the famous ‘Slavianski Bazaar’ in Vitebsk takes place on this land.
The Pristolichie tourist cluster, designed to become an export-oriented competitive tourist facility, is being created on the territory of the Novodvorsky and Lugovoslobodsky village councils of the Minsk Region. Its economic model includes objects of various forms of ownership. The list of services provided has already been determined, a logo and an Internet resource have been developed. Also banners have been prepared, and an initiative group has been formed from the owners of farmsteads. The result is obvious: the facility has already been visited by numerous tourists.
In the Mogilev Region, it was decided to use the recreational potential of the Chigirinsky reservoir. On the territory of the Bykhov and Kirov Districts adjacent to it, Chigirinka eco-tourist recreational cluster is being created. The material base for it is already available: 21 farmsteads and 23 recreation centres. To raise funds for its further development, they intend to create a stable economic zone with a special regime for investors. Events such as the ‘Big Bard-Fishing’ international music festival will not be forgotten either.
In the Year of Historical Memory, new projects are being developed for the patriotic education of young people. Having passed the ‘Partisan paths’, the youth will find themselves in a reconstructed partisan camp, which will have the opportunity to plunge into the atmosphere of difficult forest life, sing military songs around the fire, and taste soldiers’ porridge.
The pilot ‘Patriotic Impulse’ project of the Gomel Region, which includes a variety of military-patriotic excursion routes, is also aimed at educating young people as the creator of the future of our country and its defender. Thus, on the ‘Forever in our memories’ route it will be possible to visit the Ola memorial complex, as well as the monument to the children — victims of the Great Patriotic War, created on the site of one of the largest transit and storage camps. About two thousand children from 8 to 14 years old were kept there, many of whom were taken to Germany, and some were distributed to hospitals as donors for wounded German soldiers and officers.
There is no need to talk about the sights of the Grodno Region once again. This is the Augustow Canal, orthodox and catholic churches of stunning beauty, as well as mysterious old castles. In order to further popularise them, the Grodno Region decided to create a system of tourist information centres.
As for Minsk, the capital proposes to form a system of 11 bright and recognisable tourist areas with multilingual functionality of navigation services, augmented reality, online tourist assistance, QR codes at cultural and educational sites, and information services with audio guides. Thanks to this, Minsk expects to break into the international tourism market.
By Oksana Nevmerzhitskaya
