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Russia is traditionally perceived as the country of the Bolshoi Theatre, the Red Square in Moscow, matryoshka wooden dolls, St. Petersburg �white nights�; as the land of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov and Dostoevsky. But while culture continues to be a major draw for foreign visitors, the country is also seeing growth in other areas of tourism, says Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation and current Chairman of the WTO Executive Council.

Encouraging people to visit this �exciting and vast country with a great culture, unique nature and hospitable people,� he points out that tourism is progressing there in a stable yet dynamic manner. The Russian Government has stepped up national promotion and is actively seeking tourism investments, in particular, in the hotel sector.

This year the country has been celebrating the 300-th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg, with the city seeing many new hotels and restaurants opening to receive visitors eager to see the results of recent restoration work carried out on historic monuments and heritage sites.

Many tourists have moved on to see the old Russian �Golden Ring� of towns which surround Moscow, to visit the country�s numerous churches and monasteries, and museums which range from the world-famous Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow to such unique places as the Mouse town of Myshkin and the Russian Vodka Museum in Uglich on the river Volga.

Among the major attractions for foreigners is the variety of festivals. �Besides the traditional holidays and feasts of Christmas and Easter, to which both locals and tourists flock in large numbers, there are a number of original local festivities,� says Mr Strzhalkovskiy.

One example is celebrating the birthday of Grandfather Frost (Russia�s own version of Santa Claus) in his �birthplace� at Velikiy Ustyug. Another popular event is the Cucumber Festival held in Suzdal, which is recognized as �the capital of cucumber farming�.

�But Russia today is much more than a prime cultural destination,� he adds. �The country boasts numerous opportunities for all-year-round ecological, adventure, ethnographic and other specialist types of tourism. The Federation is dotted with new desti-nations and activities, still little known to the international traveller, but which are developing rapidly.�

The products on offer include ecotourism in the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East, renowned for its geysers, volcanoes and hot-water rivers; white-water rafting on the Katun River; horse-riding at the foot of the Caucasus mountains; bountiful fishing in the Volga delta; hunting in Siberia; and tours to the Arctic.

Another growth sector is business travel, the rapid evolvement of which reflects the increasingly favourable political, business and investment climate in the country.

�Business contacts have been growing both in numbers and in quality, and Russia now hosts various important international meetings and forums,� says Mr. Strzhalkovskiy.

One such event was the seminar on business and incentive travel organized by the WTO Business Council and the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in Moscow in March when more than 180 participants from 16 countries heard of the promising prospects for international business travel and events in Russia.

Not only Moscow and St.Petersburg, but other major industrial cities such as Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Irkutsk have been developing the infrastructure necessary

to stage high-level conferences, forums and meetings.

The meeting planners� association CIMPA is among other organizations showing interest in Russia, after having participated in the first international conference on Russia on the map of professional business travel which was held in the country in May.

Further proof that Russia�s standing in the world tourism market keeps rising was confirmed when the country was elected to chair the WTO Executive Council for 2003. The 69-th session of the Council held in St. Petersburg in October 2002 was the first event of its size to be held in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

International tourism contacts have expanded significantly, with inter-governmental agreements on tourism cooperation having been signed with 48 countries, adds Mr. Strzhalkovskiy.

The Tourism Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation is also striving to ease visa policies, following a course charted by President Vladimir Putin, which is aimed at introducing visa-free travel between Russia and the Schengen agreement countries.

Land surface: 17 million sq. km

Population: 145 million

13 cities with a population of over 1 million

The longest river in Europe: the Volga

The deepest lake in the world: Baikal

The highest mountain in Europe: Elbrus

Number of visitors in 2002: 23.9 million (incl. number of tourists: 8 million, up from 7.4 million in 2001)

Source: WTO news. 3-th Quarter 2003. Issue 3. P. 13