The development of tourist destinations in Belarus is a key objective in terms of tourism investment, destination positioning and competitiveness. The declared aim is to promote environmentally and socially sustainable tourism.

The EU supports the country in its efforts within the framework of the project "Support to Sustainable Tourism Development (STD) in Belarus". The project is a development scheme to strengthen key players in the tourism industry in Belarus and managed by an international consortium led by European Profiles S.A. from 2015 - 2018. As a consultant Kai Partale is responsible for the destination strategies and their implementation.

The overall objectives of the programme are to strengthen the tourism competitiveness of 5 pilot destinations and to support the regions / districts in promoting environmentally and socially sustainable tourism. These objectives are concretised by three components: (1) Support in the development of destination strategies, (2) capacity building and (3) implementation of strategies and action plans.

In all three components, national and international short-term experts for tourism research, training and consulting will be employed on an ongoing basis.