Belarus to create personal digital tourism assistant

On September 28, the National Tourism Agency of Belarus signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian Association of Health Tourism and Corporate Health in Moscow. The signing of the document opened the International Practical Conference of the Health Tourism Leaders Club “Dialogues of Skills”. Experience of sanatorium-resort organizations of Russia and Belarus, which became a preforum to the All-Russian Congress "Investments in the development of a healthy country". Numbers. Facts. Opportunities-2026, organized in the Russian capital on September 29 and 30. All the above-mentioned events discussed the deepening of cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the field of tourism, which in the next three years is intended to become a new point of growth of the Union economy.

The strategy of cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the tourism industry is based on the successful unification of the relevant regulatory framework within the framework of the Union State, he stressed opening the conference “Dialogues of skill”. Experience of sanatorium and resort organizations of Russia and Belarus, Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Yuri Seliverstov:

- The decisions taken in Belarus to reform public administration in the tourism sector are designed to increase the share of the industry in the country’s GDP to 5 percent over the next five years. As part of this modernization, the republic is actively focused on the Russian experience in strategic planning and implementation of national tourism projects.

A powerful incentive for cooperation was last year’s Russian law on tourism, which equated trips to Belarus to domestic tourism for Russians and introduced benefits for tour operators. These measures have led to the fact that Russia has strengthened the status of the largest and most stable market for Belarus: it accounted for 83.8 percent of Belarusian tourism exports.

- Cooperation with those Russian regions with which direct air and railway communication is established is particularly actively developing. Today, more than 100 flights a week connect the regional centers of Belarus with the cities of Russia. The railway operates 25 pairs of trains, which annually carry more than 3 million passengers. In total, the tourist flow of Russians by the results of 2025 was equal to 6.8 million people. The number of organized Belarusian tourists and excursionists who visited Russia last year amounted to about 163 thousand people, which is a historical maximum, the Belarusian ambassador to Russia said.

Yuri Seliverstov added that the past period of 2026 fits into the stated trend: for seven months, the mutual turnover of tourist services increased by 17.6 percent, and the export of tourist services grew by 22.8 percent. The development strategy of the Belarusian tourism industry is based on a specific task: over the five-year period, it is necessary to increase the contribution of tourism to the economy at least twice.

- To do this, it is necessary to create a country digital ecosystem – a personal digital assistant for tourists. He should select routes not only based on the initial and final points, but also taking into account the interests of the traveler, the budget, the composition of the group, the method of movement, the pace of the trip and other parameters, Yuri Seliverstov said. An important element of the ecosystem should be a single booking window: from transport tickets and vouchers to sanatorium tickets for excursions and car rental. As a result, the ideal travel platform is a system that combines planning, booking, navigation, and travel support. It should accompany the tourist at all stages: from choosing a direction and drawing up a route to returning home.

During the signing of the cooperation agreement. One of the main engines of the entire tourism industry of Belarus is medical tourism. Last year, this area grew by 37 percent, and residents of 160 countries turned to Belarusian doctors for help. In general, over the past five years, the export of medical services has increased by 1.5 times. Until 2030, the domestic system of sanatorium and resort treatment is faced with the task of increasing the number of accommodation places by 30%, in connection with which the construction of new sanatoriums is planned for the next five years. At the same time, Belarus is considering options for offering a number of sites for joint projects to potential investors from Russia, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Agency Denis Bezhok said:

- A number of land plots have been identified where new facilities are expected to be built. There we are looking for an investor, there are already a number of developments and agreements for the future. There are many such sites, more than ten in the whole country. In the Mogilev region alone there are three such investment lots. Braslav lakes, Ushachi – in general, there are many of them in the Vitebsk region. For investors, all possible preferences are offered, in particular, land tax benefits, a very good loan product.

Along with the construction of new health resorts, the sanatorium and resort industry is faced with the task of generating an additional flow of customers, despite the fact that many sanatoriums are working almost fully.

- If the loading of the sanatorium is about 100 percent, then it is still elementary to reload it, Denis Bezhok is sure. By the way, own sales of sanatoriums reach more than 80 percent. And that speaks to customer loyalty. Each sanatorium has guests who come 2-3 times annually. And the most expensive guest is a return guest, from word of mouth: well-served, well-well-being, he will tell his neighbors, friends, colleagues about it. And, accordingly, the client coming on recommendation is a guest on whom you did not need to spend a lot of marketing, he is the cheapest and most beloved.

One of the reserves of the sanatorium system of Belarus is work with time, which is commonly called “not season”. If Belarusian health resorts sell summer and New Year holidays successfully, autumn and winter-spring periods leave a kind of opportunity for market participants. And there is already room for activities as holiday organizers and marketers.

- We are trying to develop new services, medical areas, infrastructure in general: this is the construction of street locations, and the development of beach and park complexes. We are improving the existing number pool. Every year we reconstruct one floor, make it more comfortable, modern and, accordingly, we can transfer it to a higher price category, said Sergey Nekhvyadovich, director of the Priozerny sanatorium. Plus, in 2026, guest houses were commissioned. This is also an increase in the premium room fund.

Experts also call the improvement of service along the entire service chain and digital support of tourists a significant reserve for attracting tourists to Belarus: booking housing, buying tickets, searching for routes, ordering excursions. In addition to the service, the State Program “Tourism” for 2026-2030 provides for the formation of a large-scale investment package, including 130 tourist infrastructure facilities. The implementation of projects covers a number of key areas: from the creation of new tourist clusters and branded recreation areas, improving access roads and transport links between key routes to the construction of new and modernization of existing hotels.