Goodbye, Rostourism, hello, Iron Curtain: market players voiced behind-the-scenes opinion

“The comments of citizens are scary to read”

On the morning of October 20, unexpectedly and untimely, the department known to the townsfolk as Rostourism, and in state lists as the Federal Agency for Tourism, left our lives. It was born in 2004 in connection with a significant rise in mass Russian tourism around the world. But in connection with what Rostourism died, and whether this means that there is no more tourism in Russia, we found out from industry workers.

It does not seem that Rostourism has a premonition of its demise: the day before, its head Zarina Doguzova published on social networks a response to those who are worried that their planned and already paid vacation in southern Russia will be disrupted due to geopolitical events: “At the moment, there are no restrictions on tourism in Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory were not introduced. All tourist infrastructure continues to operate as usual. Therefore, if you are already in these regions, you can continue your vacation as planned. If you are only planning a trip to these regions, then at the moment there are no new restrictions on travel to Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory.” From previous activities, those involved in the industry immediately recall the department’s efforts to give tour operators the opportunity to buy blocks of seats on regular flights and railway routes at subsidized rates. Under the last post of Rostourism, users hastened to announce their verdict: the end of Rostourism is the beginning of the Iron Curtain. They can be understood, because it is difficult for a mere mortal tourist far from the civil service to understand the true meaning of the wording “abolished in order to optimize the authorities.”

I hasten for clarification to experienced market players, until Thursday morning, subordinate to the deceased agency. And among them, small businesses are “watching” the situation more closely, the bigwigs, because, if anything, it’s more difficult for them to survive.

– It’s scary to read the comments of citizens, – I appeal to a small, but well-worn team of the capital’s travel agency. – They say, why do we need Rostourism, if a million Russians are already banned from traveling abroad, and there is nothing to travel on – planes from civilized countries do not fly to us, and we dismantled our own for spare parts. Do you think so too?

– No, – on condition of anonymity, the head of the travel agency answers. – Rostourism was just a spacer between private business, which carried out the actual travel of Russians around the world, and the Ministry of Economic Development, from whose hand the agency was fed. And the fact that there are no more gaskets (the functions of the Federal Tourism Agency were transferred to the Ministry of Economy – Auth.), maybe not bad. In difficult times, bureaucracy does not breed.

– Will there be tourism?

– If there is a peaceful sky overhead, there will be tourism. Russians, of course, are not allowed everywhere and everything has risen in price, but the world is big and there are affordable destinations. At least Russian tourism does not depend on Rostourism. He was engaged only in classification, observation and inventory of what private business did.

– But what about good initiatives like helping tour operators buy blocks of seats, etc.?

– This is not going anywhere, because the fact that Rostourism has been abolished will not stop tour operators from wanting cheap places. If you mean trade union functions, then they are not in Rostourism, but in ATOR. And the corresponding department of the Ministry of Economics will cope with all sorts of regulatory and legal issues of tourism, all the more so, as netizens rightly point out, our tourism is not on the same rise as it was 18 years ago, when “for change” from Russians pouring into the industry money grew this same Rostourism.

Well, albeit indirectly, but the end of Rostourism still speaks of the end of satisfying cloudless times. In November 2004, when allocating a separate structure to tourism, the authorities understood that a division of another department simply would not have time to track, classify and certify the rapidly growing number of proposals in response to demand in the domestic tourism industry. And today, when the world has narrowed significantly and domestic tourism has priority, the “bloated” bureaucratic kitchen is no longer needed. And it would even be good if the money saved by closing the “office” would go to real Russian tourism – to its safety, the development of new routes and services. Tourism, as industry professionals say, is a “peacetime hobby”, so its path will be as long as possible.