The Russian Federal Tourism Agency proposes establishing common tourism routes between CIS states, the deputy head of the agency, Alexander Radkov, told the first conference on forming a concerted policy in cultural and cognitive tourism between CIS states, ITAR-TASS reports.
Radkov emphasized that they need a common standard of hotel services on the routes. He added that the tourism routes be used by tourists from abroad, not just the CIS.
Polad Bul-Bul ogly, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia and chairman of the Inter-State Fund of the CIS Humanitarian Cooperation, agreed with Radkov. He underlined that post-Soviet space is enormous and has common views and ideas.
Polad Bul-Bul ogly’s fund plans to hold 15 international programs in cultural and cognitive tourism in 2011. Over 80 million rubles have been provided.
The Belarusian Deputy Minister for Sport and Tourism, Cheslav Shulga, proposed the establishment of a common guest map for CIS citizens and benefits for visiting tourism sites. Such a map is efficiently operating in Belarus, he said.
The Russian Federal Tourism Agency said that the world has some 5 billion tourists annually. 23 million visited Russia in 2010, while 40 million Russians visited foreign states. Russia had 34 million internal tourists in 2010.
