"The Russian route" – pilot project

Yesterday, a press-conference and the awards ceremony of the Russian Route journalist competition were held in Moscow’s "President Hotel". The competition was organized by the Tourism Press Club together with the Interregional Fund for Sustainable Development of Tourism and with help from Russia’s State Duma Committee for Economic Policy, Business and Tourism, the Department of tourism of Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Volga (Privolzhsky) League of Journalists. The event is aimed at promoting domestic and foreign tourism.

Only the members of the Volga (Privolzhsky) League of Journalists took part in the pilot project to test it and to work out the procedure. The Volga (Privolzhsky) League of Journalists – the public organization created in 2001 in Nizhny Novgorod and comprising 23 regional newspapers- helped to disseminate information about the competition.

The vice-president of State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Business and Tourism Yury Barzykin, the president of the Tourist Press Club Pavel Popov and the president of the Volga (Privolzhsky) League of Journalists Vladimir Torin made speeches at a press-conference summing up the results of the competition.

About 80 materials were received. The winners of the first round were journalists Galina Varaksina
(«Vyatsky Krai», Kirov), Vladimir Maryshev («Mariyskaya Pravda», Yoshkar-Ola), Victoria Zgeeva
(« Nizhegorodskiye Novosti», Nizhny Novgorod). Prizes were provided by "Neva" travel Company. According to the deputy-director of its Moscow branch Irina Zabolotnaya, each winner can choose any standard tour offered by Neva.

Participants in the competition spoke about the significance of the project for promoting Russia’s tourist facilities. In many editions, tourism was poorly covered, and now regional newspapers have obviously paid their attention to this sphere. Victoria Zgeeva said the «Nizhegorodskie Novosti» newspaper has recently opened the «Russian Route» column.
The second round of the competition has already begun. Now journalists from any Russian newspapers are invited. The awards ceremony will be timed for the World Tourism Day (on September, 27).

"Reporter of the United Russia in the State Duma of the Russian Federation",

RATA-news,

4/15/2004