Today, one of the discussions at the All-Russian Tourist Congress “Gates of the Russian North”, which is taking place in Kirov to mark the 650th anniversary of the city, was devoted to the possibility of forming a “people’s automobile route” in the Volga Federal District. Judging by experts, this is a very real idea, and Kirov has prospects of joining this tourist case.
The discussion was attended by both government representatives from different regions and the business community, which offers its comfortable tourism services. Yes, deputy State Duma Natalya Kostenko noted that she considers automobile tourism a promising industry for our country. True, now it is at the beginning of its formation, and there are many problems to be solved.
“My personal opinion is that road routes should be linked to airports and infrastructure should be created between them,” the deputy emphasized. “In this way, we will provide jobs and the economy, quickly generate a large tourist flow and be able to attract investors.
Many speakers, discussing the problematic aspects of autotourism, spoke about the small number of “tourist magnets” along the routes, the low availability of road services, the lack of stable cellular communications on the routes and convenient information services. In addition, a separate line of work is underway to include people with disabilities in auto tourism. This whole array of issues needs to be resolved for the development of road travel in our country. At the same time, the “convenience of autotourism” business is beginning to actively grow in Russia. For example, the production and rental of motorhomes, the creation of comfortable campsites near the highways.
Speaking about the potential of our region in terms of auto tourism, for example, member of the public council at the Federal Agency for Tourism, head of the tourism expert community Sergei Pozdnyakov noted the issues that need to be worked on:
— The condition of the roads has, of course, improved. But we must continue. It seems to me that there are few points of tourist attraction on the road. The Kirov region has great tourism projects: fairy-tale games, paleontological themes. I think it’s worth strengthening their development and focusing on enriching them with events.
