travel

Until the collapse of the USSR, Belarusians mainly traveled within the “union”. These were cultural trips (organized by labor institutions, excursions to museums and places of military glory, or city tours), health trips on party “trips”, individual tourist trips (to the sea or hiking in the mountains). Travel outside the USSR was complicated by the need to obtain a permit to leave and was usually limited to trips to the countries of the “socialist bloc”.

During the period of “perestroika and glasnost”, the population of the country gained more freedom of movement. After the declaration of independence of the Republic of Belarus, a large number of trips were made by so-called “commercial” trips for scarce goods to other countries of the former USSR and the “socialist bloc”. One of the unique journeys of Belarusians after the declaration of independence of the country is the health trips of children under the program “Children of Chernobyl”. The program was organized by UNESCO and helped to go for treatment and medical examination to children who lived in areas contaminated by radiation emissions after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The geography of these trips covered a lot of European countries, both northern and southern Europe.