Sergey Shnurov: "Domestic tourism in Russia has nothing to do with the rest!"

As sociologists of the Levada Center found out, "watching TV is the main type of recreation for 53% of Russians". Earlier, the same 53% of Russians said they would not go anywhere this summer due to lack of money (VTsIOM / The All-Russian public opinion research center). This is the highest figure since 2011.

At the same time, the number of Russians who would prefer to spend their holidays abroad has grown almost TWO times over the year: from 21% in 2018 to 39% in 2019 (VTsIOM). But the poor for the sixth year in a row have no money for holidays abroad, and even more so.

“Vacation is what Russians are most interested in now, and not arrests and trials”, - says musician Sergey Shnurov, who has dedicated a new edition of his author's program “Pictures at an Exhibition” on RTVI to the theme of vacation. “Half of the summer is over! But where to go during a pandemic?" - Shnurov asks, and further discusses the pros, cons and pitfalls of the domestic tourism.

However, he does not say anything new at all, stating the things that were clear to everyone long ago: the choice of citizens is "small, and sometimes even terrible". For example, in Sochi at the highest prices, the service remains at the level of the Stone Age. The same is true for Crimea, and in general for all tourist places of Russia.

“This is our style from Arkhangelsk to Astrakhan and from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin... Domestic tourism is, first of all, a test! It has nothing to do with rest...”, - the musician concludes.

A very typical example of the domestic attitude to the organization of recreation is the Boilernaya Telegram channel.

It is dedicated to agritourism, such a trendy worldwide trend, alas, almost completely absent in modern Russia:

“We continue to follow the legislative framework for supporting agritourism.

In the recently published thematic material of Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, we saw an interesting figure: “In 2018, approximately every fifth out of 36 million domestic tourists visited rural areas. The income of rural residents from accommodation of guests can reach 30 billion rubles annually".

What is it about in this case? About curious Russians who, in search of exotic things, go to the hinterland to watch how ostrich farms work and mold clay pots? Or about ordinary people who go “to the village to see their grandmother” on vacation or send their children there?

This is not an idle question, and if the second assumption is correct, this does not say anything about some kind of "artificiality" of the topic of agritourism, exactly the opposite. Summer in the countryside is a traditional option for recreation in Russia, and if you call such leisure in a fashionable way, then nothing bad will happen. On the contrary, it will even be good if the money goes not only to support ostrich breeders, but also to half-forgotten villages, which are now filled with life only during the holiday season..."

However, it is absurd to call the traditional departure of Russians to the village, which is completely lacking any tourist infrastructure, agritourism. And no matter how hard Russia tries to introduce this fashionable concept at home, nothing works: legislators still cannot create even a bill regulating this type of tourism.

"The Russian government invites legislators to clarify the key concepts of the draft law on agritourism", TASS recently reported:

“The introduction into the federal law of a new term characterizing a special type of tourism presupposes its further use in the federal law in connection with the establishment of regulation features based on the nature of the purpose of this type of tourism. However, the bill provides only for the introduction of the term "rural tourism (agritourism)" and its definition. At the same time, the establishment of any specifics of regulation of this type of tourism is not provided for".

“That is, apparently, the experts who analyzed the draft law understand that there is nothing bad in tourism in rural areas, and maybe even something good, but they did not see how this“ good ”will be achieved in practice in the document.

This is not surprising: the bill, which was loudly promoted in the media last April, consists, in fact, of one paragraph:

“Rural tourism (agritourism) is a type of tourism that involves temporary trips (travel) of citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons to a domestic agricultural commodity producer in accordance with the requirements established by the federal executive body in charge of developing state policy and - legal regulation in the field of tourism development and tourist activity, together with the federal executive body, which carries out the functions of developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of the agro-industrial complex".

25 (in words - “twenty five”) deputies of the State Duma and two senators worked hard on this paragraph. At first there were "only" 16 authors, but then their number increased by another 9..."- the channel experts sarcastically remind.