TEXT 4. RURAL TOURISM: PROSPECTS AND ADVANTAGES
Hanna Kubeka, 4IT
TEXT 6. MEDICINE AND TOURISM
On the world tourist market, the concept of “wellness tourism” is vague. Where does the medicine end and tourism begin? Some ardent followers advocate maintaining the medical image of SPA resorts. However, their opponents realized that in order to achieve commercial success in this direction, the diversification is needed. In this case, the resorts will become affordable to a wide range of customers, and in a much wider price range. Nowadays the resorts, which have found a balance between medicine and tourism, are the most successful ones. Some of them carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the infrastructure by adding casinos, cultural centers, and conference rooms.
WELLNESS MANIA: PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
An increasing demand for a healthy lifestyle – wellness and fitness, for alternative and additional types of treatment has stimulated the diversification of traditional SPA destinations in Europe.
Early 1980s marked the beginning of the wellness movement in the USA and Western Europe. From this time onward the wellness boom began.
The three main wellness markets in Europe are Germany, Italy, and France, where balneotherapy is a long-standing national tradition. This refers to Austria, Switzerland and most of Eastern Europe in lesser or greater degree, as well as to the states of Northern Europe and the Baltic states. Austria witnessed considerable progress of wellness. In 2000-2002, the number of wellness hotels in the country has increased sevenfold. Nowadays, already 10% of tourists visiting Austria come to the country for wellness purposes.
The number one wellness tourism market is Germany. A sauna, fitness and massage facilities, and physical therapy and other amenities are a must for a wellness hotel. The most common components of wellness-hotel offerings are a sauna, a relaxation room, a Roman bath, a steam room, a cold-water pool, indoor and outdoor pools, and hydro-massage.
The demand for these services is specific: two-thirds of all wellness hotel guests are women. The most expensive services are facial massage, Ayurvedic massage and thalasotherapy with seaweed wrapping – 50-60 euros.
SANATORIUM “SOSNY”
Description: Sanatorium "Sosny" is located on the territory of the Myadel district of the Minsk region, 20 km from a resort town Naroch, 150 km from Minsk. The sanatorium is situated in a pine forest among two picturesque lakes: Naroch and Beloye. There are 3 bedroom buildings in the sanatorium: the Main one, the Round one and the Pine one (Sosnoviy); the Medical Building, 6 cottages, the Administrative Building, the Sports and Fitness Complex, and the Mineral Water Pump Room. The capacity of the sanatorium is 204 beds.
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Mineral water. Mineral water in the sanatorium “Sosny” is brought to the surface of a single well from a depth of 420 m. Low-mineralized water (4.99 g / dm3) sulphate sodium chloride water with a bromine content of 7.6 mg / dm3. Mineral water is used for gastrointestinal disorders, liver and gall bladder diseases, metabolic diseases and iron-deficiency anemia. Mineral baths, drinking treatments, various physiotherapeutic procedures in combination with favorable natural and climatic conditions make it possible to successfully treat diseases of cardio-vascular and nervous systems, the gastrointestinal tract and the locomotor system.
Medical base. The therapeutic and diagnostic base is located in the Medical Building and is represented by the following rooms:
| Diagnostic rooms: · iridology · clinical and biochemical laboratory · X-ray room · ultrasound diagnosis · functional diagnostics · electrocardiography | Treatment rooms: · air ion therapy · swimming pool · balneotherapy · therapeutic mud baths · acupuncture · inhalation · cosmetology · physical therapy · massage hardware · manual massage · psychotherapeutic · rehabilitation capsule · sauna · phototherapy · solarium · dental · gym · herbal medicine · electrotherapy |
Leisure activities in the sanatorium "Sosny": Cultural and entertainment events are regularly held in the sanatorium "Sosny". Also are organized excursions around the Naroch region.
TEXT 4. RURAL TOURISM: PROSPECTS AND ADVANTAGES
As far as the provision of facilities for tourists’ reception and accommodation is concerned, it is possible to create them in almost every village. Rural tourism or agritourism (also known as “green”) enables to derive financial benefit from inherited hospitality and cordiality. The advantages of this type of tourism activity include above all improvement of the resident’s well-being within not only a specific village but also wide regions.
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Rural tourism results in unemployment decline, small entrepreneurship development, creation of the rural infrastructure (roads, transport links, water supply, garbage disposal, commerce). European countries' experience shows that seasonal revenue from one so-called bed space arranged for guest’s accommodation could amount to a farmer’s profit from one cow.
Specialists have noticed that agritourism develops at a very high speed in today’s world attracting a significant part of foreign tourists. Italy, Ireland, France and Switzerland can serve as examples.
According to the classical definition, rural tourism is a type of tourism outside the city limits on the territory with low population density, which embraces a set of fundamentally different services from rustic accommodation, ecological tours, and adventure trips to direct involvement into the life of the local community.
“RURAL” STYLE TRENDS
In the world, there is a clearly defined shift away from mass tourism towards more meaningful types of trips. Three S (Sun-Sea-Sand) are going to be replaced by three L (Landscape-Lore-Leisure). And here a village has something to offer: pastoral rural landscapes, traditional pleasant lifestyle, environmentally friendly products.
Rural tourism is a certain type of rest that is fundamentally different from generally accepted: with pools, luxurious apartments in five-star hotels, bars and casinos. Because the whole chic and shine finally bother and you want something plain and calm. There is rural tourism for this occasion – an ideal opportunity.
Rural tourism can be mostly characterized in the following way. It’s tourists’ residence in the rustic accommodation in the conditions that are close to real ones, including furniture, kitchen utensils, and sometimes, clothes. Tourists live in families or in specially converted houses with B&B service that is known as bed and breakfast in Russia. These people eat mainly dishes of the simple rustic cuisine. By the way, they have a unique opportunity to cook from the single-handedly obtained products: squeezed milk, hen’s eggs, vegetables from field and fruits. There is a desire to relate to nature, to immerse yourself in real life and engage in active pastimes. That’s why many people go on rural vacation with children so that offsprings tired with computer games get to know where milk comes from, how cheese and cottage are made, how potatoes grow, and how apples ripen.
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TEXT 5
Every year there are more and more people who want to spend their holidays at a measured village pace, under the patriarchal creak of the floorboards of the country house, the murmur of the river, the nightingale trills and the mosquito ringing. In comparison with refined, canned and pasteurized city products, scrambled eggs in a frying pan with cracklings and yogurt made from homemade ryazhenka and strawberries straight from the garden seem to be a revelation.
Nowadays Belarus accounts for 70 rural homesteads receiving tourists. Not much compared to neighboring countries: 600-700 estates are registered in Lithuania, and about 15 thousand in Poland. 150-180 thousand tourists manage to use the services of rural estates in Lithuania for the season. Belarusian farmsteads do not dream of such an influx of tourists yet. It was possible to take a one-two hundred tourists in the summer – that's good. “We can say that now we are running ahead of the locomotive,” states Valery Klitsunova. Three whales are urgently needed for rural tourism in Belarus: a law that would clearly spell out the rules of the game, loans, and advertising. Without this, normal development is impossible. However, potentially agritourism is a product that sells very well and meets this demand from both domestic and foreign tourists. The consciousness of the people is “greening”, and tourism around the world is also “turned green”. Many people dream of plunging into “real” life, gaining first-hand experience, and rural tourism satisfies this need.”
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Today, with a minimum of advertising, Belarusian rural estates have already achieved some success. According to Valeria Klitsunova, almost every one of them found a specialization and managed to attract "their" tourist. For example, we can talk about the high popularity of the estates, which are located in close vicinity to Minsk at a distance of no more than 50-60 km. On weekends, they just snapped up like hot cakes. Among the most popular estates of this category are “Zarechany”, “Lolua”, “Nightingale”.
The second category is farmsteads located far from the capital. Their trump card - an exceptionally picturesque countryside, for which no pity to leg it 200–300 km. As a rule, such farmsteads are located near the river or lake where you can swim and fish. There is no sense in going 300 km for a day or two, therefore people come here for at least a week. Despite the considerable distance from Minsk, such estates also do not have a shortage of tourists. For example, the “Krollova Hata” estate in the Rossonsky district of the Vitebsk region has been steadily selling all summer.
The third category includes farmsteads ready to merit and repay a large number (up to 25 people) of guests. There are few such large estates in Belarus, and they are being actively rented for corporate events - as we see, this category has also found its niche in the market.
Finally, the fourth category includes those rural estates whose owners offer their tourists not only rural silence and the measured rhythm of life but also the exact opposite - a real adventure, the opportunity to engage in active pastimes. A striking example is the farmstead “Nad Nemanom”, whose guests can embark on an exciting voyage on a raft built by their hosts. Peace, nature, adventure, local flavor, and organic products – these are the simple components of the “rural idyll” tour product. Unsophisticated as simple human happiness. As fresh as the sip of real life.
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