Pavel Tsoroyev, Nazran. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Recently the head of the Ingush Committee on Tourism, Batyr Malsagov, gave an interview to China's Xinhua News Agency. Chinese journalists admitted that the level of their awareness about Ingushetia was very low. Thus, a trip to the region was organized with the support of the Association of Foreign Journalists of Russia. “We wanted to see firsthand and told the Chinese audience. For our residents your republic is a blank spot on the tourist map of Russia. In recent years geography of tourist tours extended for travelers from China. They began to visit not only traditional Moscow, St. Petersburg, Far East, and the Baikal Lake, but also many other regions of Russia,” Liu Kai, a journalist at Xinhua, said.
Malsagov noted that 2013 is a year of Chinese tourism in Russia. Moscow and Beijing set a goal to increase the tourist flow between the countries to 5 million people per year by 2015. The task is being steadily fulfilled. The interest by Chinese citizens to the North Caucasus is great. The major Chinese company Wanda stated on its intention to invest $3 billion into development of the North Caucasus region.
Batyr Malsagov said that his department presented materials for the Chinese tourist map last year at the international tourist forum in Shanghai. It marks ancient towers of Ingushetia and other facilities. Moreover, the republic is named in the guidebook for Chinese travelers with contact information for cooperation. In July, Ingushetia was visited by a large group of Chinese tourists from Hong Kong. “Even though Ingushetia is far away from China, tourists from the great country are very important for us. I think we have a lot to show them,” the chairman of the Republican Committee on tourism. He notes that at the moment the government of Ingushetia headed by Yunus-Bek Yevkurov does its best for development of tourism. A special economic zone will be established and the republic's program for tourism development has been adopted for 2012-2016.
