Great potential for ecological tourism in Belarus

Belarus has a considerable potential for the development of ecological tourism, Andrei Kuzmich, Deputy Head of the Biological and Landscape Diversity Office of the Central Office for Waste Management Regulation, Biological and Landscape Diversity of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry stated at a recent press conference. According to him, there are 1,307 designated conservation areas in Belarus. All of them can be interesting to some degree from the point of view of ecological tourism. In his words, 29 state nature protection institutions operate in Belarus. They manage the Berezinsky biosphere reserve, four national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries. There are 48 ecological trails, 176 tourist routes, and 116 tourist camps in the designated conservation areas. The official mentioned tours in swamp shoes and on swamp buggies, diving training, rafting trips. Ecological festivals are rather popular.Apart from that, efforts are put into the ecological awareness of the population. Sixteen visit centers and four environmental education classrooms have been set up so far.