Chechnya has been participating in all sorts of tourism forums for several years, trying to restore and develop its recreational potential. In Soviet times about 20,000 tourists visited Chechnya every year. However, the war destroyed the entire industry - tourist and pioneer camps, hotels and paths. A few years ago the state tourism and excursion enterprise 'Tur-Eks" started operating in Grozny. "The cancellation of the counter-terrorism regime has freed us. Mostly we work on restoration and development of internal tourism in Chechnya. Our opportunities are not very high, but we do everything to tell people about our republic. Our long history, interesting traditions and culture and unique character are all things we proud of," director of the tourist resources of Chechnya Tur-Eks Hed Tukayev said.
At the moment the company is organizing one-day trips in Grozny and the surrounding countryside. There are five tourist routes in Grozny, and 4 in the districts of the republic. The "Alpine meadows of Itum-Kale" and "Journey at Kezenoy-Am" routes introduce material culture and the historical heritage of the republic. Here you can visit a lake, old watchtowers and numerous springs, as well as listen to stories about the natural wealth of Chechnya.
In short, local specialists work with low-cost tourism, e.g., hunting, fishing, horse tourism, hiking, rafting and tracking. In 2011 the company plans to get financial support from the republican
budget. The main task is to create a positive image of Chechnya and present tourism in Chechnya in the all-Russian tourism market. This month a team from the social network of tourists and travellers,
"Turometr", visited the high-mountainous part of the republic. The result of the trip was development of a project to attract tourists to the North Caucasus. The team wrote a diary which is available on the
website of the network. Everything is very diverse in Chechnya: mountain landscapes are changed by cultivated border lines.
An extract from the diary of the team of Turometr: "It is ancient and beautiful here. Here you realize that the world of McDonald's and i-pods does not cover everything. Here you find absolutely different things - old, wise and eternal". At the beginning of this year Chechnya became one of ten participants in the federal programme "Development of internal and external tourism in the Russian Federation for 2011-2016". The presentation of investment projects took place in February at the Sport, Tourism and
Youth Policy Ministry of Russia. However, no projects in Chechnya were included in the united strategy of the North Caucasian tourist cluster. But the president's envoy in the NCFD, Alexander Khloponin, recently said that a project for a mountain-skiing cluster is being developed in Chechnya.
Timur Utsayev, Grozny. Exclusively for VK.
