Prospects for the development of international tourism in Buryatia and the peculiarities of perception of Buryatia abroad

A.Kalashnikov

Republican BasicMedical College

after E.R.Radnaev, Ulan-Ude

Prospects for the development of international tourism in Buryatia and the peculiarities of

perception of the Republic abroad

The Republic of Buryatia is an autonomous Republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation, created in May 30, 1923. The capital of the Republic is Ulan-Ude. Nowadays the tourist industry in the Republic is actively developing, according to the rating of "Expert RA" Buryatia has moved from the 45th place to the 14th in 2010 in comparison with 2006, and  moreover, it is  at  the leading position among neighboring regions of Far East and Zabaikalie. All tourists visiting our Republic arrive to Ulan-Ude at the first place.  In this connection the significance of Ulan-Ude as a tourist centre increases.

There are many places of interest worth seeing, but the most important of them is Soviet Square with its monument to V.I.Lenin, which is made in the form of a big head. And, of course, all our guests are greeted by a sculpture "Mother - Buryatia", which is considered to be the highest monument in the city. Furthermore, tourists may be offered to visit Gostiny Dvor, which is a remarkable building from the architectural point of view. It was built in the classical style, and constructed with the help of the Russian merchants. Also visitors might want to go the museums which are situated just in the centre of Ulan-Ude. Among them the Buryat Republican Museum after Sampilov, the Museum of History of Buryatia after Hangalov, the Museum of Nature of Buryatia and some others. It is rather interesting to see a monument at the place where in 1666 the first settlers decided to house there.

The goal of my review is, first of all, to clarify if foreign tourists get interested in visiting Buryatia and Ulan-Ude, and, secondly, to analyze the prospects of the development of international tourism in Buryatia, which I have done on the basis of the information obtained from the foreign sources.

The main points of the research are as follows:

In general, tourism is supposed to be temporary visits (travel) of people to other country or any other place quite different from their permanent residence for a period of 24 hours up to 12 months within a year and allowed to stay in any place but without being engaged in any activities which may be paid from a local source.

         The development of the international cooperation is aimed to integrate tourist-recreational complex of the Republic Buryatia into the international tourist industry and to organize a stable flow of tourists from foreign countries.

Buryatia is a nice region, because it has favorable conditions for the development of active tourism, including high mountains, rich flora and fauna, the diversity and contrast of landscapes. Huge tourist potential of Buryatia allows developing on its territory various types of tourism, such as: therapeutic, ski, ecological, cultural-historical, ethnographic, educational, adventure, speleotourism.

         Here are given some foreign tourists impressions which they shared in the Internet after their visit to Buryatia.

An excerpt from the site www.earthcircuit.org one of the popular British websites about tourism and culture of different peoples of the world:

«…We talked to one guy, an ethnic Buryat, one evening, parked up in the center of Ula-Ude, the capital of Buryatia. He said that Buryats were happy to be a part of the Russian Empire – the situation of Buryats and the prosperity of the Autonomous Republic in general are improving. He didn’t think there was any serious independence movement.

…Not far from the internet café where we had met our Buryat friend, some Russians were talking to me, admiring our trucks close by. But I got fooled by their heavy metal appearance. They looked kind of grunge to me but they were actually fascists who thought it cool my truck was painted black, white and yellow – the colors of Imperial Russia. They also corrected my use of the name ‘Ulan Ude’, preferring to use ‘Udinksy’, a Slavic rendition of ‘town on the river  Ude’ – ‘Ulan’ refers to soviet red as said in the Buryat language – two faux-pas for your typical Russian fascist who hates Communists and hates non-white people living in Russia. And this was in Ulan Ude, the racism in general in Russia getting worse, it would seem to an indigenous Siberian, the further east and more populated it gets. Our Buryat friend, indeed, considered it unthinkable to travel around the country away from this small Buryat part of it.»

Description of the attractions of Ulan-Ude from the site www.trans-siberian.co.uk:

«The world’s largest Head Of Lenin

This is situated on a massive plinth in the centre of the City Square.  Although probably intended to be impressive, the result is so unintentionally comic that visitors are naturally drawn to this incongruous object, and there are no plans to remove it. 

The Ulan-Ude Opera House…

… is a surreal construction around the corner from the City Square and within site of the Head.  Only the USSR could dream of bringing grand opera to a nation of shepherding nomads. There are regular performances, mostly of ballet.»

An excerpt from the article about traveling in Buryatia (realrussia.co.uk):

«There will be a short stop at the ‘sleeping lion mountain’, where you are free to briefly venture around the sacred place of the Buryat Buddhists, and admire the awe-inspiring vistas of the Selenga River and the alpine landscape surrounding it. 
Upon arrival in the native village, your guide will lead you to a local museum filled with traces of the region’s history, where you will find remnants telling the story of the long-standing traditions of the Buryats. Continue on with a fleeting visit to the church of the Old-Believers, then on to have lunch which includes traditional dishes such as shulen, buuza, and shchi.»

These examples are presented as an illustration of the views of foreign visitors on the tourist attractiveness of Ulan-Ude and Buryatia. So, we can conclude that their knowledge of Buryatia is quite enough, taking into account that we are dealing with tourist visit. One can also note that some authors’ opinions regarding some places of interest of Ulan-Ude are rather peculiar. On the whole, we may state that tourist industry of Buryatia is characterized by positive dynamics. According to statistical data the number of tourist arrivals into the Republic of Buryatia within 9 months in 2015 was 858 thousand which 6.2 % is more than it was in 2014.

In conclusion I’d like to say Baikal region and its tourist resources are one of the most promising and attractive areas, and in this regard different kinds of tourist routes and entertainments can be offered to foreign tourists.

Электронный ресурс:

www.baikaltravel.ru/agency/Stat/ 

www.earthcircuit.org
realrussia.co.uk
www.trans-siberian.co.uk