MINSK: Belarus’ experience of industrial tourism development has been presented at the forum “Open industry: Safety standards. New-generation experts. Growth synergy” in Moscow, the press service of the Republican Union of Tourism Industry (RUTI) told BelTA.
The event brought together experts from Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Participants discussed not so much successes as problems: personnel training, certification, and the development of common safety standards.
“Industrial tourism is no longer a niche phenomenon. Today it is a tool for image building, investment, and career guidance. But with the growth of interest comes the question: who will train specialists for this field and how can we make tours of enterprises safe?” noted the RUTI press service.
The topic is also relevant for Belarus. Nearly 100 enterprises already host tours. The number of visitors grows higher every year: in 2024 there were almost 267,000 people, a quarter more than the previous year. But there are only a few full-time industrial tourism specialists on the payroll. This work is most often done by HR department employees, marketing specialists, or ideologists, for whom excursions represent additional workload.
“It is easier for us to teach interested specialists to work with tourists than it is for tour guides to understand technological processes and peculiarities of manufacturing. No one can tell you about a company better than someone who works there,” believes Dmitry Skvorchevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Republican Union of Tourism Industry.
In his opinion, the key to success is training personnel directly at the enterprises where employees know the manufacturing process from the inside. At the same time, it is important to assign these jobs to dedicated individuals. It will make industrial tourism a self-sustaining activity.
“Today it is important to retrain existing employees who will be able to handle applications, conduct tours, and develop industrial tourism locally. And in the long term it is worth considering the creation of specialized educational programs, for example, in technical or agricultural higher education institutions, training experts in industrial tourism from scratch, with the participation of experts from the tourism industry,” the expert added. –Agencies
