Deputy Prime Minister Natalya Kochanova: 'We need to more actively promote the tourism product abroad and develop domestic tourism'

How to develop the hospitality industry? This was discussed in Polotsk by the participants of the Interdepartmental Expert and Coordination Council for Tourism (IECC) chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, Natalia Kochanova.

According to Natalia Ivanovna, our historical and spiritual roots originate from Polotsk, it is a true Mecca for tourists. Unique attractions and holy places attract a large number of travelers. But how to fully utilize the existing potential and derive more economic benefit from tourist services? These issues were raised before the participants of the interdepartmental council.

First, the guests toured the city as tourists and familiarized themselves with the most interesting points of the excursion programs. A visit to the Spaso-Evfrosinievsky Monastery allowed them to touch the spiritual shrines. And on the territory of the Upper Castle, issues of further development of tourist infrastructure were discussed. Buildings that previously housed the city hospital are now empty. The concept for their use after reconstruction has been approved, and some lost objects are planned to be restored. The implementation of plans, as noted during the presentation by Deputy Chairman of the District Executive Committee Petr Petkevich, is hindered by a lack of funds. Investors are being sought, but only one facility is actually being commissioned – a hotel complex.

There are all opportunities for growth

Current problems in the development of the tourism industry were discussed by IECC members at a "round table" in the conference hall of the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. The main report was delivered by Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism Mikhail Portnoy.

According to the results of the first quarter, he noted, the indicator for export of services was overfulfilled, but this is not a reason for complacency: these achieved results must be maintained for the half-year. In terms of the growth rate of tourist services, the Ministry of Sports leads with 315%, among the regions, Grodno region is in first place (122%), while others had less than 100% in January-April. All regions, according to the speaker, have

Михаил Портной, there is potential for progress. It is necessary to work systematically in this direction: to build up infrastructure, to hold events, to set goals and achieve them.

One of the tasks for the regional executive committees is to identify landmark tourist sites, for which to form a set of measures to promote tourism services, and to accumulate financial resources from extra-budgetary sources for these purposes.

The Deputy Minister criticized sanatoriums and national parks that do not advertise their services at exhibitions, and focused on the difficulties of registering tourists at the citizenship and migration departments, where there are no signs in English and it is impossible to pay the fee on the spot.

In addition, the meeting discussed the prospects for introducing electronic visas and the possibility of visa-free entry to Belarus for foreign citizens who visit domestic sanatoriums and international cultural forums. Work will be carried out to cancel the registration of tourists from migrationally stable countries if they stay in our country for up to 30 days. It is planned to make a number of changes to the legislation. However, local leaders, as Mikhail Portnoy noted, must act more proactively.

The authorities of Polotsk, as emphasized in his speech by Chairman of the District Executive Committee Nikolai Shevchuk, pay paramount attention to the preservation of historical and cultural heritage and the involvement of its potential in the tourism infrastructure. After all, the city has unique monuments: there are over 150 of them in total, of which 126 are on the republican list, and two sites – the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Transfiguration Church – have the highest category of value and are proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The main focus in the city is on cultural and educational tourism, as well as event tourism. Interactive forms of information delivery have become widespread. The activity on participation in international technical assistance projects is very fruitful: as a result of their implementation, over 6 billion rubles (before denomination) were invested in Polotsk.

The maximum income from tourism, noted Nikolay Shevchuk, was received in 2014, when half a million dollars were attracted to the economy.

Working on the Country's Image

In general, for the republic, over 4 months of 2016, tourist services worth $38.2 million were exported, which is 2.2% of the total volume of services export. Natalia Kochanova called these figures insufficient. The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that the export of services is among the priority development areas for the current five-year period.

A special state program "Belarus is Hospitable" has been adopted. Over the past year, significant progress has been noted, but it is necessary to better utilize the existing potential. We need to more assertively advertise the tourist product abroad, as well as more actively develop domestic tourism: so that not only foreigners, but also Belarusians themselves know what we can be proud of.

For this work, according to Natalia Ivanovna, it is important to attract professionals, improve service, enhance excursion services, find unique features characteristic only of a given place, and present them appropriately.

Larisa Malashenya, "Vitebskiye Vesti". Photo by BELTA.