This year, the Vitebsk region will focus on domestic tourism and its three main areas: health improvement, sports, and agro-ecobusiness. This was announced by Vasily Zakharevich, Head of the Department of Sports and Tourism of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.
This year, the Vitebsk region will focus on domestic tourism and its three main areas: health improvement, sports, and agro-ecobusiness. This was announced by Vasily Zakharevich, Head of the Department of Sports and Tourism of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee."Last year was challenging for the tourism sector, but nevertheless, domestic tourism gave an opportunity to those firms that provided tours around the Vitebsk region to reorient themselves and not remain unemployed. This year, we will focus on the development of domestic tourism. The leading areas within it will be health improvement, agro-ecotourism, and sports services," noted Vasily Zakharevich.
Last year, about 103,000 people underwent health improvement in the region, of which over 87,000 were Belarusians, including more than 20,000 children under 18 years of age. Children's sanatoriums were filled to almost 100% capacity. The most popular among vacationers were the sanatoriums "Plissa," "Lettsy," and "Lesnoye," which offer various types of health improvement services.
This year, the modernization of the material and technical base of most sanatoriums and health improvement organizations will continue. The construction of a new residential building for 166 people is underway at the "Zhemchuzhina" sanatorium, with its commissioning planned for 2025.
Despite difficulties in other areas due to the pandemic, agro-ecotourism made significant progress in 2020. There are 670 agro-estates located in the Vitebsk region. The top three districts in terms of the number of such facilities are Braslav District (303 agro-estates), Miory District (56), and Glubokoye District (47). "We will not stop there. We are encouraging active citizens to build new houses in picturesque locations and develop eco-tourism. More than 210 plots with a total area of over 670 hectares have been allocated in the region for agro-ecobusiness, and the conditions for novice owners of such estates are more than acceptable," emphasized Vasily Zakharevich.
He added that the current five-year plan envisages the construction, modernisation and reconstruction of over 100 tourism facilities. The upgrades will affect roadside services and hotels. For example, in the Orsha district, a cafe on the M1 highway is being modernised into a park hotel. In the district centre, the former community services centre will be transformed into a tourist and hotel complex, located opposite the ice arena.
Regarding the expansion of sports services, 4 major facilities will be commissioned this year: the central stadium in the urban settlement of Shumilino, the physical culture and sports complex (FOK) in Babinichi (Orsha district), the sports complex in Orsha, and the physical culture and sports centre (FOC) in Glubokoye. The upgraded sports facilities will be open to local residents and visitors of these settlements, allowing more people to embrace a healthy lifestyle and engage in active recreation beneficial for their health.
In the upcoming five-year plan, approximately Br300 thousand is also planned to be allocated to tourism marketing. The measures aimed at enhancing the prestige of tourist facilities in the Vitebsk region include international exhibitions, seminars, familiarisation tours, and meetings with foreign delegations, where films about the Vitebsk region, its attractions, and most appealing tourist zones will be showcased.