ST. PETERSBURG, (dpa) – Russia does not exactly rank as a typical tourism destination. Only a tiny trickle of the worldwide flows of travellers ever touches the world’s largest country.
Yet Russia has a great deal to offer, culturally and in terms of natural beauty. The crown jewel of tourism is the city of St. Petersburg, with its castles and parks, its largely-preserved historical centre and museums of top world quality. Only, the city has done too little to capitalise on this.But now the city’s fathers want to make St. Petersburg into a capital of tourism, not only in Russia but in northwestern Europe.“Tourism could become the most important economic factor for the city,” the St. Petersburg committee for tourism says.The committee reports that about two million foreign guests visit the city each year, with the numbers slowly rising. But there could be many more visitors – “up to 30 million”, according to Sergei Korneyev, vice president of the Russian travel offices federation.This estimate is based on surveys, he says. In order finally to lure those millions of people to the city, a number of things must first be accomplished, and the city knows it.“We need 100 hotels,” said Valery Golubev, chairman of the tourism committee “Above all we need two- and three-star hospices for mass tourism.” He contended that the city has enough luxury-class hotels already. Altogether, St. Petersburg has around 140 hotels, many of which are very small or do not meet international standards.Infrastructure also needs to be improved.“The airport needs a new terminal building and we must also build a new sea terminal,” Golubev said.One of the biggest obstacles to tourism remains the question of visas. After many years, there has finally been some movement in this regard, with a three-day visa now on offer for about 22 dollars.“This is the average length of stay of tourists in the city,” Golubev said. He hopes that visitors in the future will not be visiting St. Petersburg just once, but will come back to the city on the Neva River several times. “After all, you don’t visit Paris just once.”Korneyev of the travel bureau federation is counting on the new visa system, saying that “the visa problem has now been partially solved”.But he says there are also “other weak points”, noting that Russian embassies abroad sometimes work “according to their own methods”, something which causes immense damage to the country’s image.“Documents go missing, invitations are required, or the visa is too expensive,” Korneyev complains. “For the same money people can afford to spend nearly a week in Turkey.”Another problem is the dual pricing system for foreigners and local residents for museums and theatres. While Russians can get into the Eremitage or Catherine Palace for a tiny sum, foreigners come away with a bitter taste knowing they have had to pay up to eight times as much money.
