How to raise staff and attract talented youth to the development of tourism are the key issues of the 2nd International Student Congress, organized with the participation of the RGS. The event in a hybrid format brought together 30,000 students from 100 universities, secondary specialized educational institutions in Russia and CIS countries. The congress was opened by a discussion on sustainable tourism with the participation of the representatives of the Society.
“The main factor of sustainable development is the horizontal interaction. The strength of any ‘green’ chain – commodity or service, including tourism – is estimated by the weakest link. This means that all its participants should have the same understanding of sustainability and related obligations," said Natalya Belyakova, Director of the Expeditionary and Tourism Development Department of the RGS. “Sustainability in hospitality is a multi-vector process, where, for example, reducing the carbon footprint of a route is complemented by commitments to help local residents. Tourism, providing demand for the products of local craftsmen and learning about the way of life of indigenous peoples, contributes to the preservation of this way of life. For example, reindeer husbandry in Taimyr largely retains the demand for such an experience of ‘living’ on the part of tourists. And so the hypothetical Dolgans change their minds about selling the herd, do not forget the national sewing, and keep the traditions for which there is a stable demand. The RGS develops such responsible tours which benefit both experienced travelers and local residents.”
Another example of a responsible stay of tourists on the territory is an expedition trip to Kamchatka, developed jointly by the employees at the Kamchatka Branch of the Society, the Institute of Volcanology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Kronotsky Reserve. Along the route, the travelers, together with other activities, collected field samples on the instructions of volcanologists, participated in cleaning the Okhotsk coast from trash, and specified the South Kamchatka bear group census data.
At their own congress panel, the experts of the RGS shared popular science tourism projects for the next year. Anton Yushko, Chairman of the Commission for Eco-Efficient Tourism of the Leningrad Regional Branch of the RGS; Roman Ryabintsev, Director of the Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg; and Aleksey Kolbov, General Director of the tour operator partner of the RGS Mzungu Expeditions, participated in the live broadcast from the Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg.
What unique tourism projects are organized by the RGS today? First of all, these are trips in an expedition format with a focus on geography, ethnography, and history. The most note-worthy project, which was launched this year and managed to receive the gratitude of the first participants, was a trip to Taimyr. The participants who joined the program, by working together with the specialists at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, were able to immerse themselves in the specifics of the work of anthropologists: 10 days away from civilization, in the vastness of pristine nature, visiting the indigenous inhabitants of Taimyr. The travelers also visited the crater of the Popigai meteorite, flew by helicopter over the tundra, spent several nights in chums, and visited Khatanga, the new expedition capital of the Russian Arctic. The next trip is scheduled for the summer season of 2025.
Another own route of the RGS is "Yamal + Papua: Ethnographic Expedition to the Nomads of the North (Nenets) and South (Korowai)". The start of this trip is scheduled for March 2025. In one trip, tourists will visit the Arctic Circle, the shores of the Arctic Ocean where Yamal reindeer herders roam all year round, and after that they will go to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, to Central Papua where the Korowai tribe lives in the tropical forests. They still build their homes in trees to protect themselves from predators and neighboring tribes, but they willingly welcome tourists and share the innermost secrets of their everyday life. This route is a combination of incongruous: north and south, Arctic and tropics, 30-degree frosts and equatorial sun, polar tundra and jungle.
Among the new projects of the RGS under development is an expedition trip to Morocco recreating the path of Nikolai Vavilov. The Soviet geneticist, botanist, and breeder made a huge contribution to the development of world agriculture. More than 100 years ago, in 1925, he went on an expedition to North Africa to get acquainted with agricultural areas, explore the evolution of plants in Morocco and their worldwide distribution. The journey along the Vavilov’s route will go through Northern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains on horseback. Meetings and seminars of Moroccan scientists on breeding, genetic developments, and climate features of the continent are planned during the expedition.
“In the midst of the official Decade of Science and Tourism, we are setting goals for the development of responsible tourism, which primarily benefits the territory and local residents,” said Natalya Belyakova. “After all, not only the tourist chooses the territory, but also the territory chooses the tourist. Popular science tourism is the kind of tourism where non-professionals can try on the role of historians, geographers, hydrographers, and even seismologists, doing simple work according to a clear methodology and under the guidance of scientists.”
You can watch the recording of the broadcast on the event’s website turcongress.online. The experts' speech at the panel of the RGS starts at 09:33.
Yulia Gopius