On September 28, the Russian Ministry of Culture held a ceremony presenting the highest departmental awards in tourism. The event was timed to coincide with World Tourism Day, celebrated the day before. Awards were presented to the leaders of the Ministry of Culture. travel companies, representatives of businesses and travel associations working in the hospitality industry, as well as researchers.
As Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky noted at the opening of the ceremony, thanks to the joint efforts of the government and the industry, key indicators for domestic and inbound tourism have increased significantly over the past few years.
"Since 2012, domestic tourism has grown by approximately 751%, while inbound tourism, which would seem to have declined after 2014, has grown by approximately 14.51%," he said.
The following were awarded the Russian Ministry of Culture's "For Contribution to the Development of Tourism in the Russian Federation" award: Alexander Bobylev, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Balchug LLC; Vladimir Efimov, Vice President of the Russian Hotel Association; Yuri Konstantinov, Head of Tourism and Local History at the Federal Center for Children and Youth Tourism and Local History; Lyudmila Maksanova, Senior Researcher at the Baikal Institute of Nature Management SB RAS; Sergei Mindelevich, Editor-in-Chief of the Volny Veter newspaper; Viktor Pugiev, President of the Central Council for Tourism and Leisure; and Alexandra Fedulin, Rector of the Russian State University of Tourism and Service.
In addition, the following were awarded the gratitude of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation "For contribution to the development of tourism in the Russian Federation": Dmitry Gorin, CEO of JSC "v. IP Service", Vladimir Lutov, CEO of LLC "Tour firm Magazin Puteshestviy", Natalia Osipova, Executive Director of the Association of Travel Agents for the Development of the Tourism Business "Alliance of Travel Agencies", Alexander Sorokin, President of CJSC "Agency "PAKTUR", and Anna Tukmacheva, CEO of LLC "Center for Tourist Programs "Pilgrim".
As Dmitry Gorin noted, collaboration, a subsidy program, and ongoing resolution of issues are crucial for the tourism industry.
"All this leads to the fact that many more tourists are traveling around our country," he added.
For her part, Natalia Osipova thanked the Russian Ministry of Culture for actively engaging travel agencies.
“I’ve been in tourism for 30 years now, we’ve been through a lot, we’ve seen a lot, but we’ll remember the Ministry of Culture’s leadership of the industry as one of the best times,” he said. President of the PAKTUR agency Alexander Sorokin.
Source: trn-news.ru