Almost 75% of Belarusians view leisure and travel as important part of their lives, poll shows
The vast majority of Belarusians consider leisure and travel an important part of their lives – according to the results of the sociological study, entitled Tourist Preferences of the Population of Belarus, with which representatives of the Sociology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus briefed journalists at Minsk’s House of Press
According to the poll, 73.7 percent of those surveyed consider leisure and travel an important part of their lives. This, however, is less than in 2022 (75.6 percent) and 2021 (87.7 percent).
“COVID has become a stress test,” noted Nikolai Sukhotsky, Deputy Director for Research and Innovation at the Sociology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, commenting on the dynamics of changes in the mood of Belarusians. “In 2021, after the peak of the pandemic, people really wanted to relax and travel, and then the situation stabilised.”
Answering the question ‘How do you prefer to relax?’ respondents gave the first place to outdoor recreation (45.1 percent of those polled). Fishing, hunting, picking up mushrooms and berries (39.2 percent) are placed second, followed by vacation in the countryside (31.5 percent). The top-5 preferences also included historical monuments, museums and exhibitions, as well as relaxing on the beach, with extreme recreation (skydiving, roofing) closing the top-10 answers
The best travel companions are family members (72.6 percent of those surveyed) and friends (35.4 percent). 11.7 percent of respondents are used to traveling alone while 7.4 percent prefer to do this with colleagues at work or school.
More than two-thirds of the Belarusians surveyed in 2023 (70.6 percent) prefer to organise their tourist holidays on their own. For comparison: in 2021 and 2022, this figure was 67.6 and 69.5 percent, respectively. In 2023, 21.5 percent of respondents are ready to use the services of tour operators and agencies (in 2021 and 2022, 26.6 and 23.4 percent, correspondingly).
“Over the past two years, the number of travel agencies in our country has also decreased,” said Nikolai Sukhotsky. “Moreover, independence in organising recreation is also associated with experience. People are accumulating experience, competence is emerging in the field of ordering tickets online, developing routes, etc.”
When traveling, Belarusians usually stay with relatives, acquaintances, friends (36.4 percent of respondents) or in hotels (30.5 percent). Slightly more than 18 percent of respondents prefer a rented apartment or a house, 14.5 percent – camping, 12.7 percent – sanatoriums, 8 percent – camp sites, 4.6 percent – hostels.
A sociological study on the topic Tourist Preferences of the Population of Belarus was conducted by the Sociology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in May-June 2023 using a telephone survey via a fixed telephone network. Respondents include citizens aged 18 years and older from the Belarusian capital and all regional centres, as well as individual urban and rural settlements in all regions of the republic: a total of 900 people.