Day one: Minsk
At the plenary session, which took place in the capital's City Hall, the participants of the event discussed current issues of the industry: the importance of developing TICs as a modern driver of Belarusian tourism industry; algorithms for creating TICs and modern requirements for their activities; ways to promote tourism potential on the Internet: basic tools and practical recommendations.
Today, 36 TICs are registered and operating in Belarus. Tourist information centers perform not only an information function, but also act as coordinators of tourism development in their regions. Their main goal is to create tourism products and promote them on the domestic market, said Olga Fedorova, chief specialist of the tourism and physical culture and health sector of the Sports and Tourism Department of Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.
By the way, Vitebsk region is the leader in the number of operating TICs. Grodno region is in second place. Soon, tourist information centers will appear in each region of the republic and will act as comprehensive regional centers for tourism development.
Deputy Director of the National Tourism Agency Anna Voshchinchuk touched upon current issues of conducting professional certification confirming the qualifications of tour guides and guide-interpreters, and also spoke about important nuances to successfully pass the certification.
Alexander Krechetov, Consultant of the Department of Tourism of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, spoke about the legal aspects of the creation and operation of tourist information centers.
The president of the non-profit partnership “National Association of Information and Tourism Organizations” Mikhail Ushakov, the director of Voronezh TIC Ekaterina Shramko and the deputy director of Kaliningrad Region TIC Yulia Karlova spoke about the foreign experience of information and tourism organizations; they took part in the Forum online.
Today, tourist information centers not only form and promote tourism products and services, using the historical, cultural, spiritual, organizational potential of the region, but also develop a regional strategy for tourism development. Indeed, a tourist information center is an organization that unites various tourism entities, representatives of government agencies, businesses and public associations. Therefore, it is so important to use the unlimited possibilities of social networks to promote tourism potential, emphasized Alexander Rak, Director of Alterago Group LLC. He spoke about the nuances of using marketing tools to generate demand for a tourism product.
A contact exchange was held within the framework of the Republican TIC Forum. Here, representatives of the tourism industry communicated quite excitedly. The communication platform provided an opportunity to find potential business partners and develop business connections, providing the opportunity for direct contact and negotiations with the heads of companies and organizations.
It is important to understand that the TIC is more than an information center, as it not only provides tourist services, but also generates traffic around itself from organizations involved in tourism. Therefore, it is so important to combine the efforts of the TIC, which will have a positive effect in all areas. On the one hand, this will promote and popularize the country's tourist potential. On the other, it will help strengthen business ties.
On the first day of the Forum, participants visited ITC Minsk. There are 56 hotels and 14 similar accommodation facilities with a one-time capacity of over 12 thousand people in Belarusian capital. Over 6,000 catering facilities specialize in national cuisine. 21 capital enterprises invite you to walk through the production facility and see how the brands “Made in Belarus” are created. More than 500 events of various levels are held in Minsk annually.
Tourist Minsk is:
The ITC "Minsk" became the navigator in all this diversity. The Infotourcenter is an integral part of the structure of tourism management in the city and accumulates current issues on the development of this industry. After all, modern Minsk is not only the largest center of concentration of tourist services and jobs in the tourism sector, it is a point of investment and innovation activity and a destination for international tourism, forming the image of the Republic of Belarus in the world.