Tour operators from Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will visit on an introductory tour in the Vitebsk region

Major tour operators from Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will take part in an introductory tour of the sanatoriums in the Vitebsk region, reported Darya Matskevich, Deputy Head of the Sports and Tourism Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.

The introductory tour "Potential of the Vitebsk Region in Health Tourism" will take place from November 18-21. It is organized by the Sports and Tourism Department in conjunction with the company "RaidoTour" LLC, aiming to promote the capabilities of the region's sanatorium and resort organizations and to increase and diversify the export of tourism services. Over four days, 11 representatives from Turkmenistan (tour operators, a representative of the State Committee for Tourism), 6 from Uzbekistan (tour operators, a representative of the Tashkent Department of Health), and 2 tour operators from Russia will visit 8 health resorts in the region, as well as the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve.

"The theme of health improvement was chosen for a reason: sanatorium and resort organizations are the main providers of exported tourism services in the region. And the leaders in this indicator for the entire tourism sector, not just health improvement, are the 'Lettsy', 'Lepelsky Voenny Sanatorium', and 'Borovoe' sanatoriums.

The guests will also visit these facilities," explained Darya Matskevich. She added that while previously the main contingent of vacationers consisted of Russians, this market has now somewhat weakened. However, the export of services to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan has noticeably increased.

Based on the results of the first 9 months of this year, compared to the same period in 2014, the number of tourists and vacationers from these countries increased by 3.5 and 3 times, respectively. Therefore, these destinations are promising. In general, over the past two months, the department and its partners have done a tremendous amount of work to diversify the export of services.

Thus, in October, a promotional tour of Vitebsk was held for 18 tour operators from the Northwestern Federal District of Russia, and an introductory trip along the route Vitebsk - Glubokoe - Mosar - Postavy - Vitebsk was organized for the heads of trade union committees, representatives of administrations of enterprises and institutions of the region. In November, representatives of the rural tourism sector and culinary service facilities of the Latvian region of Latgale visited the agro-ecotourism estates of the Polotsk district.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, BELTA.