Intreview by Vladimir Nesterov. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Mikhail Shchetinin, a senator of Altai Krai, a member of the Federation Council Committee for Economic Policy, has attended the Tribune broadcast at Vestnik Kavkaza and described the resort and recreation potential of Altai.
- Everyone still remembers the winter events when tourism companies went bankrupt over the low cost of the ruble. In general, I think that Russian tourists re-oriented towards the domestic market. I think that Altai Krai has a special spot among traditional tourism, or regularly visited places in Russia. In other words, Altai Krai does not have a sea, but there is something that attracts large numbers of tourists, including those from capital regions, I mean Moscow and Saint Petersburg. What is it?
- I could argue about the sea, because Altai has Lake Bolshoye Yarovoye. The waters of the sea, the brine, and the mud of the lake, they are comparable with analogical products of the Dead Sea of Israel in terms of quality and even eclipse it in some aspects.
- You mean the lake is salty?
- The lake is salty, there are several salty lakes. Tourists arrive every season, they come from our neighbouring regions, they are the Tomsk, Omsk, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk oblasts. Plates of cars from the central part of Russia flash ever more often. Altai is good in all hipostases. The foothills of the mountains are good, the steppe parts are good. Altai is an area of amazing beauty. If you visit Altai somewhere in late July and go to the steppe part, you will see enormous, endless wheatfields quivering in the wind, and it feels as though a sea runs somewhere over the horizon. You will see sunflower fields of amazing beauty, huge, golden sun cups which, if you walk out in the morning, start raising their heads gradually following the sun, turning, the process is repeated the other way around in the evening. It is a sight of amazing beauty. If you visit the roots of mountains, you can take velvet antler baths, you can visit highlands of amazing beauty, check mountain rivers. They are the Biya and the Katun that fuse into one of the world's largest rivers, the River Ob.
Today, the territory of the krai has 695 accomodation spots, including 44 sanatorium and resort complexes. About 70 children's recreation camps. The krai managed to preserve all the children's recreational industry in the post-Soviet times. About 200 greenhouses today, in other words, visitors may have holidays at a tourism base, at a sanatorium, they may have holidays in rural areas, learning about rural lifestyles at rural farmsteads. 225 companies serve tourists. The federal reserve city Belokurikha and the Belokurikha Resort were dubbed the best federal resort on the territory of Altai Krai. The system continues, it is a living organism, it continues developing, Altai created and runs a special tourism and recreation-type special economic zone. Today, Altai runs a gambling zone, the first casino, and it is the only casino today operating on the territory of Russia, open in the zone. Today, Altai Krai takes part in the federal purpose program for development of domestic tourism in three projects: the Belokurikha tourism cluster, which includes a set of facilities in the Belokurikha city, plus the construction of a new Belokurikha-2 Resort, that's about 800,000 meters above sea level, it is basically a resort city. The resort has conceptually been constructed taking modern tourism demands into account. It is not just accomodation places or places for treatment, such facilities, it is also a network of tourism bases which will be located or will be located around the resort. In other words, a man arriving for treatment, to relax, he can change his surroundings and move around the resort. Plus, the car tourism cluster Golden Gates near Biysk, basically at the entrance to Biysk, where you can buy a tour, relax, check your vehicle or bus and move on.
- You mean the fact that Belokurikha-2 is under construction means that everything is fine with the load.
- More than that. Sanatoriums in Belokurikha are 110% filled in the high season. The character of recreation is changing. Today, if you visit Belokurikha, you will see that people are trying... some visit for several days, some for a couple of weeks, some for a month, but they depart as families. Special equipment is purchased for children, in other words, a child today can take all the necessary procedures in equipment designated specially for children. Plus, certain conditions for recreation, accomodation, let's say, bicycles, some snowboards are available for rent and use.
Of course, the cultural and historical heritage in France, in Germany, in Italy. But, as they say, we were not born yesterday. I am talking about Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Altai again, it is the homeland of one of our most notable contemporaries, Vasily Makarovich Shukshin. Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky, Yekaterina Savinova, German Titov were born in Altai. All the names have museums you can visit. The agenda includes beautification of the Zolotukhin Museum. In the near future a museum of Pyryev will be created. They are all our fellow countrymen. There are sights to see, to get acquainted with, to think about. Of course, you can visit the West for a change between regions and compare. Sadly, we do not value what we have. I think every Russian today should think about the breaking point of our history: what does one know about his country? About its regions, about its potential, about its uniqueness? Few know, though everyone has heard, today that Roerich was searching for Shambala in Altai. There are marvellous museums where you can learn about the renowned man in Altai. And I can go on and on and on. We have no regions unattractive for tourism in the country. There is better and worse development of the tourism industry.
- There is once again a personal perception of a region, some are more appealing, some less, it is an exceptionally personal issue. And that is the question I would like to conclude our interview with. Have you visited the Caucasus and what is your personal impression about the region?
- I have been to the Caucasus, I have been to Stavropol Territory, Azerbaijan, Abkhazia, Georgia. What is my impression? It is a very good impression, very hearty. There are many kind, welcoming, hospitable people, I am on a friendly footing with some of them, I even worked with some of them. I think that we need to be friends today. If we talk about Russian regions, we need to develop interregional ties and maintain interregional tourism streams. If we talk about countries of the near abroad today, in that sense, we need to work thoroughly and property to be interesting for our friends, those who unfortunately live abroad today, but that is near abroad, we have economic, cultural ties, gain their interest by visits not only to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, it is also the regions of Russia. Send tourism streams from Russian regions there. I think that there would be mutual interest, mutual willingness to learn more about the life of peoples, their culture, today's economic condition, there is also rapprochement. In modern complicated conditions, I consciously talk about the conditions of life, I imply economy, politics and so on, it is rapprochement, friendship of our peoples, it is a guarantee that we will get through in this complicated life and keep developing progressively, dynamically. It is a guarantee of mutual success.
