Intourist. The oldest Russian travel company. Name of the travel company What was the name of the travel company in the USSR

These days, there are hundreds of different companies operating in the tourism industry. Tour operators and travel agencies offer a variety of services to suit every taste and budget. You can choose any direction, visit the hottest and coldest countries. But it’s worth plunging into the past and remembering where it all began. Surprisingly, the first and oldest Russian travel company began its work during the Soviet era and continues to do so to this day.

The name of the oldest Russian tourism company initially sounded like this: the state joint-stock company for foreign tourism in the USSR “Intourist”. However, later it changed several times. "Intourist" began its activities in the Soviet Union, in 1929. This means that in 2019 it will mark exactly 90 years since its opening.

Since its founding, during the Soviet era, the oldest Russian travel company did not have its own material base. In 1993, in order to develop tourism, it was merged with the All-Union Joint Stock Company "Hotel". As a result of the merger, the company received transport, restaurant and hotel chains. This was a huge leap in development.

Rapid growth

In the 1930s, the material base of Intourist began its active growth. The company had at its disposal more than 20 hotels and about the same number of restaurants, as well as about 300 vehicles, for which a separate garage was built in 1934. Now this building is known as the Intourist Garage. It is an architectural monument of Soviet times.

If at the beginning of the 30s the cash turnover of Intourist was about 50 million rubles, then by the 1940s it doubled and reached almost 100 million. Along with the cash turnover, the staff also grew. In six years it has increased by almost 6,000 people. Therefore, the 30s can be considered significant for the oldest Russian travel company.

Reorganization in 1990

By 1990, Intourist had 107 tourism enterprises and more than fifty thousand jobs. In 1990 alone, the enterprise received more than 2,000,000 tourists from different countries, and its income amounted to more than 700 million US dollars. In the same year 90, the company underwent reorganization. Its controlling stake was purchased by the joint-stock financial corporation Sistema. The oldest Russian travel company acquired a new name, which was abbreviated as VAO Intourist.

During the Soviet era, the company was the main tourism operator receiving guests from other countries. It was thanks to Intourist that many famous personalities visited the Soviet Union, from artists and writers to politicians and public figures.

Present tense

In 2011, the oldest Russian travel company Intourist, together with the European tourism giant Thomas Cook, organized a joint venture. Over the past years, they have been introducing modern technologies in the field of tourism into the company. Today, Intourist is the only owner of modern international technologies in Russia. The company can also boast of a rich history and its achievements. For example, VAO Intourist is a member of leading international and Russian organizations.

Intourist is not just the oldest Russian tourism company, but an entire tourism holding company. It includes the managing VAO Intourist, as well as four business divisions: tour operator NTK Intourist, hotel business Intourist Hotel Group, travel agency Intourist Travel Store and transfers Intourist Transport Services. Currently the company has a staff of 4,005 people. The company's revenue varies from year to year, amounting to an average of 500 to 700 million rubles per year, where the share of net profit is measured in several tens of millions of rubles.

What travel can teach you

Why do people travel? Is it really just to take a 2-week break from work, spend the money accumulated over six months and create the illusion that “they can afford it”?

You look up from the couch.

Thinking about the upcoming voyage, we begin to worry about the difficulties that await tourists. We are worried that we will not find a place to stay for the night, that we will not be able to communicate with the residents of another country in our broken English. What do travel teach? Because all the fears listed above are in vain. Gather your courage, put aside your worries, focus on your goal and hit the road. It is a mistake to think that traveling is either a “round the world” trip, where you burn all your bridges, or a package holiday that limits you to an all-inclusive system. How much do you know about the surrounding areas of your city? About the life of residents of neighboring villages? Surely there are a lot of interesting things near you. Start discovering the world small.

Travel changes your worldview

The first thing he learns after visiting different countries is that exotic places are not as dangerous as they seem. You can feel comfortable in any city. This rule also applies to wildlife: by following basic safety rules, you are guaranteed to avoid trouble. Moreover, in a metropolis a person is more likely to die (for example, by getting hit by a car) than in a desert or forest.

You will constantly expand your horizons

What are travels for? To get to know the world and get acquainted with the culture of other peoples. Don't worry about the friendliness of people: the locals always treat travelers politely and try to help them. If you are not a Tagil fan, don’t spoil their heritage and don’t laugh at the culture of the country in which you are a guest, then traveling will definitely bring you new acquaintances and faith in people. Many people will be happy to provide you with an overnight stay, show you the way, and tell you about the interesting sights of their country.

You don't have to be a millionaire to see the world

Travel more and you will realize that you don't need to spend millions to do it. Big money is necessary only for those who dream of a sea cruise to exotic islands. Although, if you make friends with the locals, you can easily avoid these expenses. When organizing your travels yourself, you only need to have a small amount of cash to buy food, pay for transport and hotel rooms or places in hostels. Living in the latter, by the way, despite its cheapness, can give you a huge amount of experience and impressions.

Things are just things

First-time tourists consider it their duty to take 10 suitcases on the road with outfits for all occasions and full equipment in case of the end of the world. But over time, travel teaches that an abundance of luggage only gets in the way. A person on the road (as in life) needs a minimum of clothing, two pairs of shoes, hygiene products, money and documents. Once you start traveling, you will realize that you absolutely do not need most of the things you have, and you can painlessly get rid of them by freeing up space in your closet. The same applies to unnecessary emotions, unnecessary worries, uninteresting people and habitual obligations - by getting rid of such “junk”, you will make room for new things.

Find out the difference between a tourist and a traveler

Travelers and tourists are not the same thing. The first ones communicate with local residents, get acquainted with traditions, make new acquaintances, change their worldview and improve their lives. The latter fearfully glance at everything that is happening from the windows of the bus. Locals scam tourists out of money, and share food and shelter with travelers. Travel changes people and teaches them that they need to be simpler and not be afraid to learn new things, teach them to be open with others and appreciate every person who comes into life.

By leaving your usual environment, even for a short period of time, turn your life into a journey full of uncertainty, and you will be able to get to know yourself from the most unexpected sides.

Travel is not a vacation

You've probably heard more than once how traveling changes many people, making them stronger and more resilient. And you actively travel to Cyprus and Turkey, but you don’t notice any changes... And this is not because hiking in the mountains or tundra with a heavy backpack is a workout for the body. Not because in the most harmless resort city you can be left without money or find yourself in a difficult situation. It’s just that when traveling, you don’t set the goal of “lying down” under a palm tree, relieving stress from work or family. You change your lifestyle from the usual to an improved version of it. Traveling can be physically difficult, but it also relieves the mind. Therefore, they are not looking for physical relief; they provide much more than relaxed muscles.

You are your best friend and travel companion

Can't find travel companions to go on the road with a fun group? This will only benefit you. There is no better way to understand yourself, the world, determine life goals and cultivate fortitude than solo travel. Traveling alone is an incomparable experience. By relying only on your own strengths, you will begin to believe in yourself more and learn to make responsible decisions on your own. This will help you more easily meet new people, try unusual things and take on unfamiliar roles, since you won’t have to look up to anyone and won’t be afraid of anyone’s judgement.

It's a small world

Long journeys have changed the opinion of millions of people that our planet is vast. It only seems like this when you watch about other countries on TV. In reality, it is possible that you will meet your friends when you go to Cambodia, India or Kamchatka. Or, in a quiet, remote corner of the world, meet someone from your hometown.
Travel more and don’t be afraid to communicate with people and look for new acquaintances. Perhaps one of the billions of people who will change your life will meet you in a place you never thought possible.

The joy of returning

No matter how good it is along the way, returning home is a joyful moment for every person. Arriving in your hometown, you will be glad to meet your loved ones and work colleagues. And the changes that happen to you on your journey will certainly affect your life. And if you want to change your life now, try to start with at least a short trip to an unfamiliar place.

Intourist. The oldest Russian travel company - all about travel on the site

1. The STARTOUR company is a reliable and stable partner in the tourism market. Since 2003 We professionally serve both legal entities and individuals.
2. Being tour operator (license RTO 020539), we ourselves are engaged in the development and packaging of a tourism product (tour) under contracts with suppliers of various services.
3. We have bank guarantee(show), which guarantees our reliability
4. We have accreditation from TCH (view the certificate), guaranteeing work in the Russian air transportation market
5. We have IATA accreditation number 9-222-7645 (view the certificate), providing work in the international air transportation market
6. We work directly with more than 200 leading Russian and foreign airlines, as well as with hotels and other organizations providing services in the tourism sector. This allows us to offer the client more favorable rates, reducing his costs and maintaining the quality of service.
7. Concluded direct agreement with Russian Railways.
8. Direct contracts with Global Booking Systems air transportation.
9. Direct contracts with hotels, providing more favorable conditions for our clients.
10. Job 24x7.

For us, the key to productive work is a focus on savings and long-term cooperation based on mutual benefit.

TOURISM IN RUSSIA AND ABROAD

Our company is dynamically developing in the field of organizing business trips and tourist holidays. We are a member of the World Without Borders association, focused on Russian-Asian cooperation in the tourism industry. A tour operator license for domestic tourism gives us the right to provide services for the reception of foreign citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation, mainly in Moscow. Therefore, our company offers a full range of services for preparing inbound and outbound tourism for various purposes:

• visa support
• railway and air tickets, hotels
• working with groups
• individual service for individuals
• transfer
• various types of insurance
• MICE events
• timely provision of documentation, VAT accounting
• excursions
• accompanied by a guide or translator (in almost any language)
• any type of recreation and so on.

OUR SPECIALISTS

We are responsible for the quality of service to our clients. Our specialists, with over 3 years of experience, are distinguished by their professional and responsible approach to their work. Regular staff certification, working with all reservation systems and providing basic and related travel services allows us to offer decent service!

The next episode of the Secret Materials program on the MIR TV channel tells how the brilliant Soviet travel company Intourist appeared and what it was like to work there.

December 8, 1991, Belarus, Belovezhskaya Pushcha nature reserve. At the government dacha Viskuli, three decisively sign the document of the century - the agreement on the creation of the CIS... So Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich with one movement of the pen destroyed the Soviet Union. The colossus collapsed. This was also the finale of the long history of the Soviet Intourist. The legendary company will survive in the new country, but will lose almost all of its privileges.

...There is a famous song by the famous chansonnier Gilbert Becaud “Nathalie”. Natalie is a Moscow girl Natasha, an Intourist guide. The French composer and singer met her in Moscow during his tour of the Soviet Union in 1965 and wrote a song about Natalie. This is what glorified Muscovite Natasha and her profession. So the whole of Europe learned that the Soviet Intourist had the most charming guides.

“Girls with good speech and good command of their nervous system were selected to work at Intourist to work with serious groups, including party and government organizations,” recalls RANEPA professor and tourism expert Galina Dekhtyar, herself a former employee of Intourist. - We were taught public speaking and acting skills, breathing exercises. Of course, we received good training in art history and architectural history.”

The brainchild of the NEP, which transports foreigners

() At the end of the 1920s, one of the most important tasks facing young Soviet Russia was the need to establish contacts with foreigners. In order to control and ensure tourist flows, Intourist was created - a state joint-stock company with almost monopoly rights.

“Intourist” is not just a story about how the Soviet Union is hospitable and open to foreigners, says Deputy Director of the State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchusev on the educational work of Alexander Stepin. “This is the creation of an entire infrastructure, this is the brainchild of the NEP, which was really able to become successful and bring a stable income to the Soviet state.”

Since the 1930s, Intourist employees have begun to invent exciting routes for foreigners. “All the tours for foreigners that operators still operate are the developments of Intourist, because it all requires a huge infrastructure around,” says Alexandra Stepina. - All these ship tours with a stop in St. Petersburg for two or three days are also the brainchild of Intourist.

The legendary Golden Ring is also an invention of Intourist. It was developed in the 1950s by hired employees specifically for a Soviet tourist operator, primarily to transport foreigners along it. True, at first the route was called differently. Guide-translator, author of the book “My Life in Intourist” Marina Kedrenovskaya recalls: “In those days this route was not called the Golden Ring. And there was no closed ring as such, because there was a military airfield in Ivanovo, and it was impossible to drive through Kostroma and Ivanovo. We didn’t call this route a ring - we called it “Old Rus'”.

“Intourist” was the organization that participated in the formation of the national idea, the idea of ​​​​cultural heritage. In every city, a hotel of the appropriate level needs to be built, bus parking needs to be provided, and a museum network needs to be provided,” says Alexandra Stepina.

Traveling through the Caucasus is one of the first Intourist routes. It was there that the most exotic things were found for whimsical foreigners. “The Georgian SSR was also part of the Intourist route,” recalls Marina Kurtashvili, a guide-translator for Intourist in the Soviet years. “We mainly showed a city tour, the old city, Tbilisi museums, Jvari monastery, mountains... Today the range of tourist sites is much larger.”

The capital of Soviet Azerbaijan, the city of Baku, was the same center of international tourism. Elena Abdullaeva, a chef at the Intourist Hotel in Soviet times, says: “Everything is beautiful here: the sea, the old city. There are also a lot of historical places in the districts. The excursions for foreigners were very interesting and entertaining, they always really liked it here. We had a lot of tourists from other countries.”

Cruises on the Black Sea and the Volga, “Swallow’s Nest” and the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea, the Trans-Siberian Express - all these are exemplary Intourist routes. “In my time, in the 1980s, the most popular route was Central Asia,” says Marina Kedrenovskaya. - It seems that I spent my entire youth there, because we flew there endlessly. Then there was a series of programs on French television about Samarkand, about Shakhrisabz, about Bukhara. Apparently, this was also due to the fact that before that they flew to Turkey for the East, for Islamic culture, and there at that time there was a series of terrorist attacks, and it became dangerous. But it was safe in the Soviet Union.”

“They always showed the city, took us to Khatyn and the Kurgan of Glory, since they were already open, then Grodno, Brest began to attract,” says Raisa Zaretskaya, senior administrator of the Minsk Planet Hotel. - There were a lot of Polish tourists who came to us, because Poland is very close. But the people who came, they didn’t know anything about Belarus at all.”

Each of the capitals of the Soviet republics also had its own representative office of Intourist. But most foreigners still began their trip to the USSR from one of the country’s two main cities - Leningrad or Moscow.

“We brought foreigners to the Lenin Hills, they looked at the panorama, we told and showed them everything, and then they could buy souvenirs,” recalls Galina Dekhtyar. - The last groups went on excursions around evening Moscow. First, the guests were shown the city in clear light, and then in the evening. Foreigners said: why is it so dark here? Especially in the 1980s, when Moscow was not illuminated as it is now, and we drove through dimly lit streets.”

Form for "Intourist"

() Getting this job was not so easy. “There was a very serious interview, several members of the commission,” Marina Kurtashvili shares her memories. - There were questions of all sorts: on politics, and on economics, and how you know the language, and how you know your hometown. Tourists from capitalist countries were not immediately allowed in. Let’s say they didn’t let me see the French right away, they gave me a group from Czechoslovakia for translation,” admits Andrei Kostyugov, a guide-translator for the Minsk Intourist. - There were very difficult moments. When I worked with the Poles, I said this word - Belopoles. They just rolled their eyes. I understood: the Poles do not understand the word White Poles. That is, there was no such concept in their historiography; it is a purely Soviet concept.”

The majority of Soviet citizens considered any work with foreigners to be prestigious. And working as an Intourist guide is also a source of “sweet life”.

“Everyone thought our job was very easy. This is how it seemed from the outside: you do nothing, walk in the fresh air, look at museums, paintings, chat with people, socialize, eat in luxurious restaurants at public expense, dance in the evening, have fun with them, says Marina Kedrenovskaya. - Well, there were conversations (although, again, no one said this directly to their face), the translators of Intourist are generally prostitutes and so on. Which, again, is absolutely absurd, because even if this had happened, they would have simply been fired for it with a wolf ticket and that’s all.”

This is not an exaggeration, considering that Intourist diligently controlled not only the behavior, but also the appearance of its guides. “I knitted a sweater that had an American flag on the front, only without the stars,” says Galina Dekhtyar, professor at RANEPA and tourism expert. - In this sweater, which clearly read like an American flag, and in a white skirt with two slits, I came to the first excursion. It was something. I gave a tour. They told me that everything was fine, but then one of our ladies came up to me and said: they say, Galochka, this is the first and last time you came in this form, sew up all the incisions, and take off your jacket. I didn’t even know that later I would have to sign such things.”

The company had its own warehouse of so-called executive clothing. “Intourist had beautiful blue suits, and we, the girls from the Moscow city excursion bureau, were terribly envious of them that they were given such beautiful ones, but none of them for us,” Galina Dekhtyar continues her story. “You could quickly determine who the tour guide was by these costumes.”

() Most of the Intourist guides tried to dress fashionably and keep up with their foreign charges. Marina Kedrenovskaya, guide-translator, author of the book “My Life in Intourist” recalls: “We went on a lot of routes to Georgia and Armenia. There were various artels and studios there. There you could buy beautiful fashionable things inexpensively. There were very beautiful shoes in Armenia, and in such stores - I don’t know whether they were state-owned or cooperative. Even the French shopped there. Foreigners sometimes gave us some things or bought them for us here. It was not allowed to accept perfumes, tights (these were the most common gifts from the French) and gifts from the Berezka currency bank. But one gets the impression that no one was seriously following this.”

AND IN A RESTAURANT - NO, NO It was not allowed to go to restaurants with foreigners. “I remember there was a dialogue with one person. He said: you are forced to constantly lie, pretend to be something, you cannot honestly say anything to a foreigner. His main argument was that if a foreigner invites me to dinner at a restaurant, I won’t be able to go, I’ll have to come up with some kind of excuse for refusing, because I’m not allowed to.”

Other employees of the Soviet Intourist recall the same thing. This is what Marina Kurtashvili says: “After work, that’s it, no contacts. If you happened to meet me on the street or invite me somewhere - thank you, I’m busy. Only what was in the program." And these are the memories of Galina Dekhtyar: “We had a special subscription. When working with foreign groups and when applying for a job, we signed a paper: do not wear transparent, tight or short clothes, do not go to a restaurant with foreigners and do not particularly engage in conversations with them.” Marina Kedrenovskaya: “It was forbidden to give foreigners your home address. It was possible to give an address, but it had to be the address of the central office of Intourist, which was located on Marx Avenue, 16. There were cases when foreigners - either they came several times, or dealt with different guides - asked: what, Do all your guides live in the same house? Why does everyone give the same address?

There were rumors among foreign tourists that every group was sure to have at least one KGB agent. This is not to say that these rumors were groundless.

“One group just wanted to feed me and invited me to a restaurant,” recalls Galina Dekhtyar. - Immediately some comrade, whom I had never seen, thought that he was not from the group at all, suddenly said: no, no, no, we’re leaving now. Like this is someone with me. People often surfaced from nowhere.”

“I knew one driver who told me, not without pride, that he was walking around, reporting something, reporting to his “Fuhrer,” as he called him,” says Marina Kedrenovskaya. - But on the other hand, the driver does not know a foreign language. What can he spy on the bus? He could report, for example, that the guide accepted a gift, or that the guide sat on the lap of a foreign tourist.”

Sometimes romantic relationships arose between Intourist employees and guests from abroad. But marrying a foreigner is not an easy task. Here’s how Marina Kedrenovskaya talks about it: “This had to be done according to a certain scheme. It was necessary to first quit from Intourist, and then formalize the marriage, because if someone got married while still working at Intourist, then it was a terrible scandal, from which the person who got married no longer suffered, but others suffered greatly, because control immediately increased.”

All the best for foreigners?

() The house on Mokhovaya, which later housed Intourist, became iconic for the era of the 1930s. It was built by the then fashionable architect Ivan Zholtovsky. “This is one of the pillars of Soviet architecture,” says Deputy Director of the State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchuseva on scientific work Irina Chepkunova. “He built this building as a residential building, but one that marked the transition from avant-garde, constructivism, simple architecture to a more decorated, pompous one, which was later called “Stalinist architecture.” It was this building that the Intourist administration moved into.

“The nail in the coffin of Soviet constructivism” is how Zholtovsky’s house was nicknamed. From here “Intourist” managed its huge estate, which included many buildings in the constructivist style. “Even then, Intourist strived to be the most modern, the newest,” says Deputy Director of the State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchusev on the educational work of Alexander Stepin. “Therefore, in addition to the luxury hotels that remained from Tsarist Russia, hotels are being built in the style of constructivism, avant-garde, where, indeed, the Soviet Union declared its primacy and superiority.”

Meeting foreigners at the airport, taking them to hotels, sending them on excursions - this requires a huge car park and a garage. The Intourist garage is one of the famous examples of Soviet constructivism. It was designed by Konstantin Melnikov. Which, according to Irina Chepkunova, was completely logical: “For some time after 1925, after the exhibition and his architectural triumph, Konstantin Melnikov lived in Paris and there within a year he designed two garages, including one as a bridge over the Seine. Melnikov was known as an architect who makes outstanding, unique garages, and that’s why Intourist turned to him.”

“This entire beautiful facade was supposed to be a screen on which everyone passing would see cars continuously moving along the ramp,” Alexandra Stepina continues this story. “It had to accommodate a fairly large fleet of vehicles: it was planned to place about three thousand cars in a small space, including cars and buses.”

In 1933, Intourist merged with the joint-stock company Hotel. “This joint-stock company contained hotels, cafes, restaurants in all the most interesting points of the USSR. At the same time, he used old apartment buildings and hotels that were built in the Art Nouveau era,” says a researcher at the State Scientific Research Museum of Architecture. A. V. Shchuseva Lev Rassadnikov.

Large-scale construction of hotels began throughout the USSR. The hotel in Batumi was designed by Alexey Shchusev himself, the author of the Mausoleum and the Moscow Hotel, a very fashionable architect at that time. “A wonderful hotel was made in Shchusev’s workshop for Batumi,” says Irina Chepkunova. “Such a rich, powerful management like Intourist was able to order ultra-fashionable buildings from an architectural point of view.”

The flagship Intourist hotel on Gorky Street, now Tverskaya, became the same ultra-fashionable building. True, not all Muscovites liked it. “It seemed to everyone that she was such a tall box, and like some kind of tooth she stuck out high in Gorky Street,” says Irina Chepkunova. - Yes, tastes change, architectural styles change, and our attitude towards them changes. But at the time it was built, it was considered very progressive architecture.”

“The main hotels of Intourist are those built for the 1980 Olympics,” says Galina Dekhtyar. - That is, in fact, all the hotels received foreign tourists, but the most involved were “Russia”, “Izmailovo” - the largest complex in Europe, “Salute” and the Central House of Tourists. They were made for maximum comfort, built immediately using advanced technologies. A number of them were built by the Turks."

Cosmos was rightfully considered the best hotel of Intourist. To build a hotel designed for foreign tourists, foreigners themselves were involved. “France at that moment dominated in the creation of new concrete formulations. The construction bureau had to gain new experience and learn new technologies,” recalls Alexandra Stepina. The main building of the hotel is built from monolithic reinforced concrete and has a very complex configuration. “Cosmos” amazed the imagination with its appearance, but even more so with the unprecedented comfort of the interior.

The Cosmos Hotel has become the pride of Intourist. The latest air conditioning system, advanced electronics, modern elevators. All rooms, regardless of category, are beautiful and comfortable. Restaurants and bars could accommodate all guests at the same time. “For the first time in Russia, an absolutely world-class hotel appeared, a hotel where there were several separate food areas,” emphasizes Alexandra Stepina, “and where it was formulated that with such a number of residents and rooms it is necessary to create autonomous, so to speak, blocks where several conferences arise -halls."

Who is looking for shish kebab in a record store?

() “All the best goes to foreign tourists,” this is exactly how it was established in the Soviet years. But sometimes even the all-powerful and hospitable Intourist had failures in its work.

“Some groups might have missed out, they might have sold more tours than there were buses or hotel rooms,” recalls Marina Kedrenovskaya. - Instead of the Ikarus, which at that time was considered a luxury bus, the group is suddenly given a dilapidated, stinking LAZ, absolutely terrible. The same thing happened with hotels. A group that expected to be accommodated in “Cosmos” was suddenly taken to motels at the last moment, were “Mozhaisky” and “Solnechny” on the Moscow Ring Road. They even told a story that a group of Italians at the Cosmos Hotel were accommodated in a swimming pool. They drained the water, placed cots there, and so people settled there with suitcases. Further, I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but in any case there was a joke going around that at night some mechanic came there and turned on the water.”

True, with all this luxury, foreigners had almost no freedom of movement and food.

“They ate what they gave, because back then there was no formula when people just come to a hotel or bed and breakfast, and then deal with it as they want. Then there was a tour with full board and everything was already included in it,” Marina Kedrenovskaya, guide-translator, author of the book “My Life in Intourist,” shares her memories.

Because of this, tragicomic stories arose, like the one in which Marina Kurtashvili, Intourist’s guide-interpreter in the Soviet years, inevitably found herself drawn into: “I had individual tourists, they wanted to go to some Georgian restaurant in the evening, order yourself - and also buy records with Georgian folklore. But since they didn’t speak either Georgian or Russian, I wrote to them on one piece of paper, “Give them records,” on the other, “Give them shish kebab,” and so on. And she suggested: so that you don’t get confused, I’ll write a translation too. But they refused to translate, and then they really got it wrong. In a big department store where they sold records, they gave a note that said: give them kebab, the best kebab with sauce.”

() The power of Intourist in the Soviet Union was practically monopoly. It was rivaled only by the Sputnik travel agency, which worked with students. “They were not afraid of competition, their foreign clients had no choice, they probably would have agreed to any price,” says Marina Kurtashvili. Elena Abdullayeva, head chef of the Baku Intourist Hotel in Soviet times, notes: “This is a very strong school, very strong employees, everything was at the highest level. We always worked as a friendly family, helped each other, supported each other.”

“What good did Intourist do for me? - asks the guide-translator of the Minsk “Intourist” Andrey Kostyugov. - I traveled all over the Soviet Union! I was in Bratsk, Irkutsk, Abakan, Shushenskoye, where Lenin was in exile, and traveled throughout our southern regions. It was very interesting. And today if you try to fly to Baikal, it will be more expensive than to Paris, I think.”

“The best personnel are those who were trained at Intourist,” Marina Kedrenovskaya is sure. - I can cite this fact as proof. When in the 1990s, a variety of companies began to form, and foreigners began to open their representative offices here, we began to go to them for interviews. Usually it got right to the point where they asked where you worked before. As soon as they heard that they had several years of work at Intourist, they said: that’s enough, this is the best recommendation, nothing more is needed.”

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Intourist was unable to maintain its power and influence: the days of monopolies are over. On Tverskaya, a hotel so disliked by Muscovites was demolished, Melnikov’s garage was occupied by people far from tourism, and KGB agents have long been no longer lurking on excursions for foreigners. But these are completely different times...

The content of the article

TOURISM(tourism) –1). consumption by people of material goods and services in places that are not their places of residence and not related to their work activities; 2). branch of the economy associated with the organization of tourist trips and providing tourists with the necessary infrastructure (vehicles, food, cultural and social services); 3). a mass sport aimed at maintaining health and restoring performance.

Tourism is a special type of recreation that arises and develops in the process of increasing the ability of people to move from one place to another. It satisfies people’s natural desire for not only passive, but also active recreation, which is associated with personal acquaintance with famous monuments of nature, history and culture, with the customs and traditions of different peoples.

Tourists are people who temporarily move outside their usual place of residence for the purpose of recreation. Thus, when defining tourism, three criteria are used:

– change of location . For example, persons who travel daily between home and their place of work or study cannot be considered tourists, since these trips do not go beyond their usual environment;

– short stay in a new place. This should not be a place of permanent or long-term residence. The criterion for assessing the length of stay is that the visitor must stay in the place he is visiting for a day or more, but less than 12 months in a row. Someone who lives (or plans to live) for one year or more in a certain place is considered a permanent resident and therefore cannot be called a tourist;

– rest as the purpose of moving . The purpose of the trip should not be work or any other activity paid for from any source in the place visited. Any person who moves to a new place for work paid from any source in that new place is no longer considered a tourist, but a migrant. This applies not only to international tourism, but also to tourism within one country ( Cm. INTERNATIONAL POPULATION MIGRATION).

Often the concept of “tourism” is understood in a broader sense of the word, including temporary trips abroad not only for recreation, but also for business purposes (to scientific conferences, for meetings with business colleagues, etc.). However, “business tourism” has many fundamental differences from ordinary tourism and should be considered rather as a form of business communications.

Modern organization of tourism business.

Tourism business becomes possible with the formation of mass supply and demand in the tourism services market.

The demand for tourism services is formed due to three factors.

Firstly, the need for organizing the leisure industry grows as wealth increases, since proper recreation (often with elements of sports) becomes an important part of the lives of wealthy people. Until the middle of the 20th century. Only a small elite (aristocrats and businessmen, highly paid employees and government officials) could afford tourist trips. As the "welfare society" develops » tourism became available to representatives not only of the upper class, but also of the large middle class.

Secondly, there are significant differences between living conditions in different areas in terms of recreational opportunities. On the one hand, differences in weather conditions play an important role: you can work in cold climates, but it is better to relax in warm weather. On the other hand, those people who love active recreation seek to combine the absence of physical labor with gaining new knowledge and impressions in the most pleasant form - through personal inspection of various sights. Therefore, tourist trips, for example, to those areas and countries where ancient architectural monuments have been preserved, are very popular.

Thirdly, tourist trips (especially over long distances) become possible only when transport costs are reduced and the costs of processing documents associated with traveling to another region are minimized. Before the era of the First World War, paperwork for moving from one country to another was fairly quick and easy, but paying for the trip itself was quite expensive. You can remember Phileas Fogg from the novel by J. Verne In 80 days around the Earth, who spent a fortune during a round-the-world “trip”, but never encountered administrative restrictions when moving from one country to another. From the beginning of the 20th century, with the development of transport, the cost of travel quickly began to become cheaper, but all countries began to tighten the visa regime - making it difficult to issue permits to cross borders. Therefore, these days, hardly any member of the middle class can afford a round-the-world “trip”, but it cannot be completed in 80 days due to the inevitable bureaucratic difficulties with obtaining visas.

Thus, after the Second World War, the prerequisites arose for the formation of not elite and spontaneous tourism, as before, but of mass and organized tourism. Representatives of the middle class who wanted to fully relax needed specialists who would help them organize visas, travel to possible vacation spots, and the vacation itself. The high demand for tourism services has also generated a high supply.

With the development of mass organized tourism, two categories of firms participating in the organization of tourism have emerged - tour operator firms and travel agencies.

Tour operating companies (tour operators)- These are wholesale companies that act as intermediaries between tourism industry enterprises in some regions and groups of people who want to become tourists and live in other regions. To organize tourist trips, tour operators establish relationships with accommodation, catering, transport, cultural and educational institutions and excursion bureaus operating in places where tourists go. Tour operators often rent hotels and other accommodation facilities, airplanes, and buses on the basis of long-term contracts, ensuring their maximum load and receiving significant discounts.

Tour operating companies, depending on the type of transport used, are divided into those specializing in organizing tours using specially equipped aircraft; bus excursions; railway excursions; sea ​​cruises.

These firms can organize trips to a single country or specialized tours to several countries.

Travel agencies (travel agencies)- these are retail firms that play the role of intermediaries between tour operating companies and service companies, on the one hand, and individual tourist clients, on the other. Travel agencies either organize tours offered by tour operator companies, or are engaged in providing certain types of services to individual tourists or groups of people, establishing direct connections with transport organizations, hotel corporations, and excursion bureaus. Tours are sold at prices set by tour operators and indicated in their brochures. For sales, travel agencies receive a fixed commission from tour operators.

The sale of certain types of services is carried out at prices set by their manufacturers, and for the provision of isolated services, travel agencies can set certain markups to the manufacturer's retail prices. Most travel agencies are under the influence of large travel wholesale firms, airline companies, hotel corporations and trading firms.

A new trend in the development of tourism business has become the formation tourism corporations– large enterprises that unite a wide range of companies representing various types of tourism services. They have largely monopolized the market and turned into powerful inter-industry production and economic complexes, including enterprises from various industries serving the tourism business, as well as banking, insurance and other companies, and selling tours through a wide network of tour operators and travel agencies in different countries.

The demand for tourism services is timed to coincide with mass holidays, which leads to an arrhythmia of the tourism business (for example, a peak during summer holidays and a “low season” in winter). To reduce seasonal unevenness, travel companies use different techniques. Firstly, they tend to operate simultaneously in different countries with different holiday peaks (in France - in the fall, in Bulgaria - in the summer, in India - in the spring). Secondly, travel companies offer clients large discounts during the off-season to increase demand for their services during the holiday slump.

International tourism as part of the world economy.

In Fig. 1 shows all the main types of activities that together form the tourism business (tourism economy).

The tourism business is one of the fastest growing sectors of the modern world economy. International tourism is one of the three largest export industries, second only to the oil industry and the automobile industry (according to some forecasts, tourism will take first place by 2005).

At the heart of the widespread development of international tourism in the 2nd half of the 20th century. the following factors lie.

Economic growth and social progress have led to an increase in business and educational travel.

Improvements in all types of transport have made travel cheaper.

The number of hired workers and employees in developed countries has increased, and their material and cultural level has increased.

As work intensifies, workers receive longer vacations.

The development of interstate ties and cultural exchanges between countries has led to the expansion of interpersonal connections between and within regions.

There is a trend towards loosening restrictions on the export of currency in many countries and simplifying border formalities.

The tourism business is attractive to entrepreneurs for the following reasons:

it requires a relatively small initial investment;

as the standard of living rises, the demand for tourism services is constantly growing;

this industry has a high level of profit (about 20% per annum);

in the tourism business there is a low payback period (only a few years);

This business uses practically inexhaustible “naturally given” resources (warm climate, historical monuments), which provide the so-called tourist rent.

In the economies of countries receiving foreign tourists, this type of business performs a number of important functions:

is a source of foreign exchange earnings for the country;

promotes economic diversification by stimulating industries serving the tourism sector;

With the growth of employment in the tourism sector, the income of the population increases and the level of well-being of the nation increases.

In the modern world, international and domestic tourism accounts for about 10% of the world's gross domestic product.

In addition to being a significant source of income, tourism is also one of the powerful factors in enhancing the prestige of a country and increasing its importance in the eyes of the world community and ordinary citizens.

International tourism is developed extremely unevenly in different countries of the modern world. This is explained, firstly, by different levels of socio-economic development of individual countries and regions, and secondly, by differences in ensuring safety for tourists.

International tourism has received the greatest development in Western European countries. This region accounts for over half of the global tourism market, while Asia and Africa combined account for less than a quarter (Table 1). It is important to note that European countries are not only the homeland of the majority of tourists, but also the region of travel for the majority of them (Table 2). In other words, the main tourist flow is trips of Europeans from some countries to other European countries.

The World Tourism Organization in its classification distinguishes countries that are mainly “suppliers” of tourists (USA, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands) and countries that are mainly hosts (Australia, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Mexico , Turkey, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Egypt, UAE, South Africa). It is easy to notice that suppliers of tourists are mainly developed countries, and both developed and developing countries receive tourists. In the future, many Third World countries could increase their specialization in tourism, making this industry an important source of economic growth. As for the “suppliers” of tourists, in the coming years the primacy will apparently remain with the countries of European civilization, although the number of tourists from Japan and newly industrialized countries will increase.

TABLE 2. Structure of tourist arrivals by region of origin of tourists in 2000, according to the World Tourism Organization

TABLE 2. STRUCTURE OF TOURIST ARRIVALS BY REGION OF ORIGIN OF TOURISTS IN 2000, ACCORDING TO THE WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION
Tourist arrival destinations	Regions of origin of tourists
	Same region	Other regions	Same region	Other regions
	Million Human		% of total arrivals
Total in the world	698, 8	136,9	80	20
Africa	27,6	14,8	46	54
North and South America	129,0	34,4	73	27
East Asia and Pacific	111,9	24,0	79	21
Europe	403,3	46,4	88	12
Near East	20,6	12,5	39	61
South Asia	6,4	4,9	24	76

The attractiveness of countries for tourism depends on many factors (see examples in Table 3). Some of them (natural and climatic conditions, the presence of historical attractions) are “naturally given.” Others (hotel services, organization of excursions, construction of beaches, security) are highly dependent on the activities of travel companies and on the governments of those countries where tourists could come.

It should be taken into account, for example, that tourism can only develop in peaceful conditions. A tourist's fear for his safety is a serious deterrent when choosing a holiday destination. For example, the rise in terrorism in Muslim countries in the 1990s led to a sharp decline in tourist travel to Egypt and the Middle East. Many “third world” countries with an ancient culture and a good climate (Iran, Colombia, Burma) could become centers of international tourism, but local authorities cannot guarantee safety for visiting Europeans, and therefore they are actually closed to tourists. The reduction in the flow of tourists can even be associated with events in completely different countries: for example, after the explosion of the World Trade Center in the United States on September 11, 2001, the volume of international tourism immediately decreased sharply (advance bookings for tourist trips in October were approximately 15% lower than the previous year).

TABLE 3. Factors of attractiveness for tourists in selected countries of the world

TABLE 3. ATTRACTIVE FACTORS FOR TOURISTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD
Popular countries among tourists	Factors of attraction for tourists
Brazil	Widespread development of eco-tours in the Amazon. Exotic nature. Modern architecture and design of the country's capital
France England	High concentration of historical and cultural attractions.
Germany Finland	Simplified visa regime (possibility of a wide range of complex tours).
Israel	Numerous "sacred places". Availability of a wide range of health centers. Availability of youth camps. Developed tourism infrastructure. High level of service. Comfortable climate. Long tourist season. A combination of relaxation by the sea and sightseeing.
United Arab Emirates	Low prices for good quality electronics and hardware. High level of service. Simplified visa regime system.

The example of Cuba shows that widespread tourist attraction is possible even if deep differences between socio-economic systems remain. In the 1990s, this country remained perhaps the only country in the world that openly advocated the doctrine of communism, and during these years, Cuba, in order to overcome the severe economic crisis, relied on attracting foreign tourists. It was tourism that became the main industry that brings foreign currency to the country, which helped the “island of freedom” to reverse the adverse consequences of weakening economic cooperation with Russia.

The widespread development of international tourism relations has led to the creation of numerous international organizations that help improve the work of this area of ​​global trade in services. These include: specialized agencies of the UN system; non-governmental specialized, international commercial, national and regional tourism organizations. Leading among them is the World Tourism Organization (WTO), created in 1925, an intergovernmental organization that, on behalf of the UN, promotes and develops tourism as a means of economic development and international understanding.

The evolution of tourism abroad.

There is no smooth flow in the history of tourism development abroad. Over the past two centuries it has gone through three stages (Table 4). Twice, at the beginning and in the middle of the 20th century, revolutionary changes occurred in the organization of tourism. They are associated with the strengthening of the role of the state in providing guarantees of tourist services and with the democratization of the social composition of tourists with a sharp expansion in their number.

In the modern world there are many types of tourism. Its main types are systematized in Table. 5.

Customer needs and desires are constantly changing. As a result, changes are occurring both in the geography of tourism and in its types.

For example, at the beginning of the last century, Nice and Baden-Baden were considered very popular and prestigious resorts, where one could meet the entire color of European (including St. Petersburg and Moscow) society. Nowadays, Nice is known mainly as a health resort and is no longer such a prestigious holiday destination as it was in those days.

With the changing needs of wealthy people, new types of tourism are emerging. Some of them are semi-legal or outright illegal - such as sex tourism to Southeast Asian countries (for pedophiles) or drug tourism to the Netherlands (for those who want to legally smoke weed).

The craving for a healthy lifestyle stimulated, along with passive (health-improving) recreation, the development of sports tourism (mountain climbing, ski tourism, mountain hiking, cycling, sailing, etc.), which is officially recognized as a sport. An interesting example of such tourism is the round-the-world trip by Novosibirsk scientist Vladimir Lysenko in a passenger car (from Alaska through all of America, Australia, Africa and Eurasia to Magadan) in 1997–1999. Most fans of sports tourism, of course, do not strive for such records, limiting themselves to moderate exercise to maintain health

The development of the tourism industry is influenced by the growth in the number of so-called. “business travelers” who travel not for leisure at all, but for business purposes, but often use the same infrastructure as ordinary tourists. Already, “business tourism” accounts for over half of the revenue from hotel room sales. A special type of business tourism is incentive tourism - trips that a company rewards its employees for high performance. Unlike mass tours, incentive programs are developed for a specific corporate customer and, as a rule, involve first-class accommodation and service along the route.

TABLE 5. Tourism classification

TABLE 5. CLASSIFICATION OF TOURISM
Principles of classification	Types of tourism	Subtypes of tourism
Tourist goals	Recreational	Wellness
		Sports
	Business	Business trips
		Congress and exhibition
		Incentive tourism
		Shop tours
		Hobby tours
	Informative	Sightseeing
		Pilgrimage
		Educational
	Ecological
Form and organization of trips	Organized
	Disorganized ("wild")
	Individual
	Group
Origin of tourists	International
	National
Travel payment type	Commercial
	Social

According to the World Tourism Organization in 2000, 62% of international tourist trips were made for leisure, business tourism accounted for 18%, the remaining 20% ​​was visiting friends and relatives, religious purposes/pilgrimage, treatment, etc.

In addition to commercial in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Social tourism began to actively develop. It can be briefly described as a state-guaranteed minimum in the field of recreation, when poor citizens make trips subsidized by the state from funds allocated for social needs. The task of social tourism is to provide quality recreation to all members of society through the widespread involvement of the poor in the tourism sector. This concept is most actively used now in France and Switzerland, where virtually all citizens have a “right to tourism”.

The development of tourism is connected with the development of globalization - tourism is both its creation and a factor in its further development. The growing interest of tourists in another culture and the availability of information contribute to increasing opportunities for communication between peoples, which allows people to better understand each other. To stimulate the development of tourism, many countries have taken a course towards simplifying the visa regime: for example, in Western European countries of the Schengen zone there is a single visa regime - obtaining a visa to one of these countries gives a tourist the opportunity to “visit” any other countries in this zone.

According to WOT, over the past 15 years, income from international tourism has increased by an average of 9% per year, reaching almost $500 billion in 2000; The number of international tourist trips grew somewhat more slowly - they grew by an average of about 4.5% per year, amounting to about 700 million people in 2000. It is predicted that by 2020 the number of international tourist trips will exceed 1 billion people, and revenues will exceed $1.5 billion.

The evolution of tourism in Russia.

The development of the tourism industry in Russia (Table 6) had some significant differences from its development abroad.

Until 1917, the development of tourism in our country was approximately the same as in the West. Back in the 18th century. It became fashionable to send young aristocrats on educational tours of Europe; this was seen as a desirable element of their education. The future Emperor Paul I himself, being heir to the throne, toured a number of European countries under the name of “Count of the North.” By the beginning of the 20th century. the composition of travelers was somewhat democratized, but as before, only the “rich public” could go on vacation abroad (and generally move anywhere for a temporary vacation).

During Soviet times, the tourism industry was gradually almost completely nationalized. Since the nationalization of labor took place, the state arrogated to itself the right to “bestow” the right to proper rest not to everyone who has the money to purchase a voucher, but only to those who “deserved” it. As a result, the cost of trips to various state rest houses and boarding houses was, as a rule, low: the price of a trade union voucher was approximately 1/10 of the price at which foreign tourists could purchase a similar voucher. However, the distribution of scarce vouchers was carried out by state and trade union bodies, as a result of which vouchers became, in essence, a special form of bonuses. Thus, if in the West social tourism was an addition to commercial tourism, then in the USSR it became the main form of development of the tourism industry.

TABLE 6. Stages of tourism development in Russia

TABLE 6. STAGES OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA
Period	Name	Characteristic	Development of tourism organizations
Before 1890s	Educational	Travel is associated with educational, commercial, political and religious purposes. The trips were made to broaden their horizons and get acquainted with the achievements of different peoples, as well as for treatment and recovery.	None
1890-1917	Entrepreneurial	Educational and excursion orientation. Formation and development of different types of sports tourism.	The Russian Touring Club (St. Petersburg, 1895) and the Russian Mining Society (Moscow, 1901) were formed.
1917-1930	Tourist and excursion	Formation of the market for tourism services and tourism infrastructure. The emergence of travel agencies and societies with the aim of activating mass recreation for workers and satisfying their needs for studying the cultural values ​​and nature of Russia.	In 1920, the United Lecture and Excursion Bureau appeared, in 1925 - the State JSC "Soviet Tourist", in 1929 - VAO "Intourist"
1930-1990	Administrative and regulatory	Creating a material base for recreational tourism, limiting outbound tourism. Since the 1970s, tourism and excursion business has become firmly established in the life of Soviet people. A characteristic feature of Soviet tourism is strict rationing and planning.	In 1958, the Sputnik International Youth Bureau was created.
Since 1990	Transition	Transition from administrative distribution to commercial trade. Lack of demand and destruction of the old material base. Growth of external (outbound) tourism with a reduction in internal tourism.	There are about 8 thousand companies operating in the Russian market, 6 thousand of which have licenses for international tourism activities

Travel abroad was “dosed” especially strictly, but tourism within the borders of the USSR was widely developed. The main health resorts of the country became the Black Sea coast of Crimea and the Caucasus, where many gradually began to go on vacation not only on state vouchers, but also on their own, as “savages.”

In the last years of the existence of the USSR, when restrictions on traveling abroad were no longer required, all tourism organizations (both state-owned and newly emerged commercial ones) flourished - the annual increase in their activities reached 15%. However, in the 1990s, the pace of development of this industry slowed down, primarily due to a sharp drop in the incomes of many Russians compared to Soviet times.

In post-Soviet Russia, the tourism business is developing with a primary focus on traveling abroad. Domestic tourism has declined sharply due to the loss of resorts in Crimea and the Caucasus, high prices for transport and the privatization of a significant part of the material base of old holiday homes. Participants in the debate on the revival of social tourism note that it is now more profitable to sell two individual trips to Cyprus or Turkey without any special worries than to organize one bus excursion for schoolchildren in the Moscow region with a lot of hassle and with noticeably less profit. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of travel companies operating in Russia prefer to send their compatriots abroad, and only a small part of them works to attract guests to our country. This sharp imbalance between developed foreign and undeveloped domestic tourism is fundamentally different from international trends: in the world as a whole, domestic tourism accounts for more than 80% of all tourist flows, and spending on domestic tourism exceeds spending on international tourism by about 10 times.

Russia has enormous tourism potential, but occupies a modest place in the tourism services market. In the late 1990s, it accounted for less than 1% of global tourist flows.

In conditions, on the one hand, of complete openness of the national tourism market to the world market of tourism services and, on the other hand, the persistence of noticeable differences between prices for consumer goods in Russia and abroad, the Russian tourist market has become not so much an element of the leisure industry, but rather a “shuttle industry.” » a form of international trade and a means of transferring foreign exchange earnings abroad. Since tourist trips from Russia abroad are many times greater than tourist trips of foreigners to Russia, the modern domestic tourism economy acts as one of the forms of capital migration from Russia abroad.

Yuri Latov,Dmitry Preobrazhensky,Anastasia Puzochkina

Literature:

Papiryan G.A. International economic relations. Economics of tourism. M., “Finance and Statistics”, 2000
Alexandrova A.Yu. international tourism: Textbook for universities. M., “Aspect Press”, 2001
Tourism management. Economics of tourism. - Textbook. M., “Finance and Statistics”, 2002
Umnov A. Flying from shadow to light...– Tourism: practice, problems, prospects. 2003, No. 4
Internet resources: Information about the World Tourism Organization –
http://www.world-tourism.org/ruso/about_wto/general_info_wto_updated2003.htm;
(http://www.itravel.ru/biblio/book5.html);
Tourism after 11 September 2001: Analysis, recovery and prospects (Report of the World Tourism Organization.)
(http://www.world-tourism.org/ruso/news_release/2002/tourism_crisis_report.htm)