Voluntary sports societies (VSOs) in the USSR unite working and student youth involved in physical education, sports and tourism; through their primary organizations (teams of physical culture at enterprises, institutions, collective farms, state farms, educational institutions, etc., as well as sports clubs) solve the problems of developing mass physical culture, sports and tourism, training badges "Ready for Labor and Defense of the USSR", "Tourist of the USSR", athletes-dischargers, masters of sports and improving the skills of athletes. DSOs are created on a territorial (in the Union republics) or production and branch basis, uniting physical culture teams of a district, region, republic; enterprises, construction sites, one or more branches of the national economy, educational institutions, etc. The activities of the DSO are built in accordance with the charter of societies on the basis of the principle of broad amateur performance.
In 1936-38 DSOs were created in the trade unions; in 1943, athletes from the FZO schools and vocational schools were united in the Labor Reserves society; in the 1950s rural DSOs were organized in the Union republics. In 1971, there were 36 DSOs in the USSR, including 6 all-Union ones: "Petrel", "Vodnik", "Zenith", "Locomotive", "Spartacus","Labor reserves"; 15 republican industrial enterprises uniting physical culture teams: Avangard (Ukrainian SSR), Alga (Forward, Kirghiz SSR), Ashkhatank (Labor, Armenian SSR), Gantiadi (Dawn, Georgian SSR), "Daugava" (Latvian SSR), "Enbek" ("Labor", Kazakh SSR), "Zalgiris" ("Green Grove", Lithuanian SSR), "Zahmet" ("Labor", Turkmen SSR), "Kalev "(Estonian SSR), "Red Banner" (BSSR), "Mekhnat" ("Labor", Uzbek SSR), "Moldova" (Moldavian SSR), "Neftchi" ("Oilman", Azerbaijan SSR), "Tajikistan" ( Tajik SSR), "Trud" (RSFSR); 15 republican rural DSOs: "Varpa" ("Kolos", Latvian SSR), "Yiud" ("Sila", Estonian SSR), "Kairat" ("Sila", Kazakh SSR), "Kolmerune" ("Collective farmer", Georgian SSR), "Kolos" (Ukrainian SSR), "Kolhoznikul" ("Collective farmer", Moldavian SSR), "Kolkhozchu" ("Collective farmer", Kirghiz SSR), "Kolkhozchy" ("Collective farmer", Turkmen SSR), "Mehsul" ( "Harvest", Azerbaijan SSR), "Nyamunas" (Lithuanian SSR), "Pakhtakor" ("Cotton grower", Uzbek SSR), "Sevan" (Armenian SSR), "Harvest" (RSFSR), "Harvest" (BSSR), "Khosilot" ("Harvest", Tajik SSR).
As of January 1, 1970, there were 114,000 primary organizations of the DSO, including 105,000 trade unions (25 million athletes). 1350 worked in DSO youth sports schools, numerous groups for improving sportsmanship, sports clubs, etc., in which 50 thousand coaches conducted classes. In 1946-1970, more than 60 thousand masters of sports and about 2 thousand honored masters of sports were trained at the DSO. DSOs, together with trade union organizations, enterprises, collective farms, and others, are building sports facilities. In 1970, DSOs had 2,490 stadiums, 59,000 football fields, 14,400 complex sports grounds, 10,200 sports and gymnastic halls, 950 artificial swimming pools, and about 270,000 sports grounds. The main funds for the work of the DSOs of the trade unions come from the trade union budget (in 1970 they amounted to 355 million rubles). Each society has a flag, an emblem, a sports uniform, a badge. Trade union sports societies are led by the All-Union Council of the DSO of Trade Unions (founded by the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in 1957). The Council organizes competitions between sports societies, sports and athletics competitions of the USSR trade unions, sports festivals, training camps; ensures the participation of the DSO in all-Union and international championships and championships; directs and controls the work of children's and youth sports schools, advanced training of physical education personnel and social activists; supervises the construction of sports facilities; assigns the title of a sports club to the best physical culture teams; maintains extensive ties with foreign workers and student sports unions. Sports federations, coaching councils, colleges of judges, etc. have been established under the Council. The activity of the All-Union Council is directed and financed by the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.
The All-Union Physical Culture and Sports Society also makes a significant contribution to the development of physical culture and sports. "Dynamo", sports clubs Armed Forces USSR, including CSKA, and sports and technical clubs of the DOSAAF of the USSR (see. sports club).
The Soviet government paid close attention to tourism and excursion activities, realizing that this is one of the ways to influence the masses. Already in 1918, courses were created for teachers in order to improve their skills, while using the type of training as excursions.
The main difference between "bourgeois" and Soviet tourism was that foreign bourgeois did not strive for vivid impressions, but for exoticism and adventure, in conditions of the richest comfort they travel to different parts of the world. While Soviet tourism was part of the cultural work, and was a deeply political phenomenon.
In 1919, excursion sections were created to organize excursion business in schools. The first six sections were located in the vicinity of Petrograd, special routes were developed. For children on excursions, free meals were offered (and this is in conditions civil war and foreign military intervention!). Schoolchildren who arrived for multi-day hikes were arranged for an overnight stay. Im for travel by railway special concession tickets were issued. Gradually, differentiation began in the areas of work with schoolchildren. In addition to the Central Station of 1920, 3 more support centers arose: in Peterhof, Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo. Humanitarian stations conducted excursions to museums and estates, this made it possible to familiarize schoolchildren with a flattering landscape, etc.
In 1920, an Excursion Bureau was created under the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, where they develop plans for upcoming trips and excursions.
Since 1921, conferences on the problems of tour guides have been held, and they were of an all-Russian character. And now, excursions were supposed to be not only of a general educational nature, but also of an ideological one, so that historical and revolutionary topics began to be developed, and the lists of enterprises of the national economy were also specified.
From the mid-20s, articles began to appear on the pages of Komsomolskaya Pravda, urging young people to take up tourism. In December 1926, the first mass excursion was organized, 300 people took part in it, and the goal was to familiarize young people with the construction of the Volkhov hydroelectric power station.
Thus, all of the above activities led to the creation of the Bureau of Tourism in 1927, the main task of which was the development of mass tourism among young people.
In the 1930s, it became obvious that the world was on the verge of new war. The USSR was threatened by a war on 2 fronts: against Nazi Germany in the west and Japan in the east. A red thread through many publications relating to tourism issues, the idea begins to pass that "it is possible to fight successfully only when, among other conditions, the fighters know the area of operation quite well." The tourist training of many powers made it possible to successfully fight opponents in the mountains and other areas, as there was good preparation. And tourism, “being predominantly a mass movement of worker and peasant youth, that is, just the bulk of the future defenders of the Soviet Union, in the freest and most interesting form gives the widest possibilities to study the frontiers. Of course, "mass" tourism in the border areas was carried out, relying on rather strict rules in order to avoid intelligence activities under the guise of tourism.
Along with domestic tourism in the USSR, foreign tourism also begins to develop very early. Just as with the development of domestic tourism, propaganda issues were the priority here, trying to reveal to the Western layman the face of the new Russia. They also believed that acquaintance with Soviet Russia "will inevitably accelerate the collapse of capitalism throughout the world." At the very beginning, the responsibility for servicing foreign tourists was assigned to Sovtorgflot, but this organization was more engaged in foreign currency, there was no proper organization.
In 1929, the flow of foreign tourists increased, and the All-Union Joint-Stock Company Intourist was created, which eventually becomes a monopoly in the field of organizing foreign tourism in the USSR. "Intourist" creates its representative offices both abroad and in a number of Russian cities, concludes agreements with foreign railway and shipping companies. Tourists were offered excursions not only in Moscow, but also in other major cities of Russia. A natural decline begins in 1938 as a consequence of the world crisis, and the spirit of the upcoming war was felt. In foreign tourism, in connection with the Second World War, and then the Cold War, there is a long break, and ends only in the 50s.
But did fellow citizens go abroad in the pre-war period? The main form of travel abroad was, of course, business trips abroad. Such people as Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky, Yesenin, Gorky, etc. have been abroad.
Organized, or, as it came to be called, planned foreign tourism, originated in the USSR in 1930, when the first group of 257 production leaders from different cities of the Union went on a sea cruise with a call to Hamburg, Naples and Istanbul. Tourists were given lectures on the international situation, political information was given, but a country history magazine was also given on all countries and shores along which the journey took place.
Domestic tourism began to revive only at the end of the 40s, and in the post-war period, such types of tourism as planned, independent, children's, family and sports became widespread.
The history of Soviet maritime tourism begins in 1957. Intourist rented 2 ships - "Victory" and "Georgia", which carried out sea voyages around Europe from Odessa to Leningrad. In 1960, the ship "Admiral Nakhimov" began to run along the Crimean-Caucasian coast. Later, sea tourism began to develop in the Baltic.
In 1964, the Office of Foreign Tourism and the Council for Foreign Tourism were created, which were supposed to coordinate the work of various organizations for the further development of foreign tourism in our country. In the mid-1960s, a special system for training personnel for hotels and restaurants, guides and translators was created. The main tourist centers were: Leningrad, Sochi, Yalta, Irkutsk, etc.
Since 1964, Intourist began to receive tourists for the purpose of recreation in such places as Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Sochi, Essentuki.
Invariably of great interest was the trip on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Vladivostok through the entire USSR. The exotic cruise along the Karakum Canal quickly won general interest. Also, many tourists were offered a hike in the Baltic taiga.
The main tourist regions were Central, which, in addition to Moscow, included Tula, Ryazan, Kaluga, Kalinin, Smolensk, Yaroslavl and Vladimir regions. T northwestern, including Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov. More than half of all routes were laid in such resort areas as the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, Crimea, North Caucasus, Transcaucasia.
Since the 1970s, the stage of regulatory and planned development of tourism has begun. The main tasks were: the mass development of tourism among the working masses and youth, which contributes to raising the cultural level and strengthening health, highly productive work, instilling in Soviet people love for the socialist homeland, etc. At the same time, planning in tourism began to acquire a total character, plans were developed and approved for 5, and sometimes 10 years in advance. The promotion of tourism among young people was also actively continued, in the 70s a program of all-Union trips and excursions for schoolchildren and students was developed.
In connection with the deformation of market relations in the USSR, the demand for health services increased, and in connection with this, new forms of service appear, for example, course treatment in sanatoriums. According to these vouchers, vacationers received medical and health services in sanatoriums, with food and accommodation in the private sector.
In 1970-1980. there is an expansion of the geography of tourism. Along with sea and river cruises, when travel was made along the Northern Sea Route, starting from Murmansk and ending with Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, along the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, the development of independent routes from the Khibiny to Kamchatka is observed. Tourist travel is becoming one of the most popular forms of recreation among Soviet citizens.
Social tourism also began to develop, when workers bought vouchers through their trade unions for as little as 30% of their cost, sometimes more.
Already in 1960, the first organized car tourism appeared, but it received real development only in the 80s. In 1985, there were 5 all-Union routes for autotourists: along the Georgian Military Highway, from Moscow to Alushta, from Rostov-on-Don to Derbent, Novgorod-Pyarnu, from Smolensk to Kara-Bugaz.
The USSR took part in the World Tourism Conference held in the Philippines in 1980. The leadership of the Soviet Union, on behalf of L.I. Brezhnev, noted that tourism should help meet the increased needs of people in understanding the world, in mutual acquaintance with the culture, traditions and way of life of peoples. Tourism also became an important factor in strengthening mutual trust and thus made a significant contribution to maintaining world peace.
Planned rail travel first appeared in the 1960s, and gradually rail routes became an integral part of many routes of the time.
The relative cheapness of air tickets was one of the components of the boom that air tourism experienced in the 80s. Moreover, aviation services were used not only to deliver tourists to places of rest and back, but independent air travel was also developed.
In 1960-1980, tourism no longer had that forced ideological character, as it was in the pre-war years. Various tourist organizations have developed thousands of various routes different types, duration in time, complexity and comfort. But, due to the fact that tourism was of a pronounced social nature, the demand for tourist services exceeded supply. And many tourist and excursion bureaus could not provide vouchers for everyone.
The perestroika that began in the second half of the 1980s and the subsequent collapse of the USSR led to the collapse of a single tourist and excursion system Soviet Union.
Literally from the first months of its existence, Soviet power begins to pay close attention to tourist and excursion activities, realizing that this is one of the possibilities for influencing the masses.
IN scientific literature It is customary to single out several stages in the development of tourism in the USSR.
The first one (1917 - 1936) is characterized by the creation of socio-economic conditions, the emergence and organizational development of the excursion and tourist movement. In the context of the restoration and reconstruction of the national economy, the unfolding of the cultural revolution, the first institutions of proletarian tourism are being created, designed to intensify the mass recreation of workers, to satisfy their needs in studying the cultural values and nature of the Motherland.
Since 1921, conferences on the problems of tour guides have been held. Conferences from the very beginning were not local, but all-Russian in nature. They had two sections on natural science and humanitarian issues. This was not accidental, since excursions and trips had to carry, in addition to general cognitive and educational, also an ideological burden. Historical and revolutionary themes were developed in accordance with Lenin's Decree of 1918 on monumental propaganda, and the lists of enterprises of the national economy were specified, where one could be convinced of the "superiority of socialist methods of management." In Moscow, the Central Museum and Excursion Institute and the Excursion Department at the Institute of Extracurricular Work Methods were established, and in Petrograd, respectively, the Scientific Research Excursion Institute. The employees of these institutions were engaged in summarizing the experience of work in the tourism sector, read various lectures and prepared conferences and congresses both on theoretical and practical issues related to tourism.
From the mid 1920s. articles began to appear on the pages of Komsomolskaya Pravda, persistently urging young people to take up tourism. In December 1926, the Moscow Committee of the Komsomol, together with Komsomolskaya Pravda and MGSPS, organized the first mass excursion, about 300 people took part in it. It was an advertising and propaganda event within the framework of GOELRO.
In the 1930s it became clear that the world was on the verge of a new war. Tourism began to take root in the army. “Journey of a group of commanders of the 51st division on Danube kayaks from Smolensk to Odessa, along the Dnieper and the Black Sea; boat trip of the commanders of the Smolensk garrison from Smolensk to Kyiv; cycling run of the command staff of the Kiev garrison along the route Kyiv - Zhytomyr; mileage of the commanders of the Volga Military District along the route Kazan - Sviyazhsk - Cheboksary; 700-kilometer trip on the boats of the commanders of the North Caucasian Military District along the Don, etc. ” These facts testify to the understanding of the importance of tourism by the army command in the education and development of such qualities necessary for a soldier as the ability to navigate the terrain, tempering character, courage, endurance, and mutual assistance.
In the field of international tourism, the task is set: to provide friends of the USSR and representatives of the progressive movement abroad with the opportunity to get acquainted with the progress of socialist construction in the USSR, and also to expand the volume of trips of Soviet working people abroad.
The second stage of tourism development (1936 - 1969) is characterized by the introduction of new organizational forms of management. In 1939 A voluntary mountaineering organization of a military-sports orientation was created. Of the members of this organization during the years of the Great Patriotic War special units were formed. Tourism brought tangible help to the country 1 .
Brizhakov M.B. Introduction to tourism. - M; SPb., 2001
The "Soviet tourist" developed about 30 routes that covered virtually the entire territory of the Soviet Union. Pamir routes were even developed. Taking into account that the average duration of vacation for the majority of workers and employees was about two weeks, respectively, the vast majority of tours were of the same duration.
The difference in the activities of the OPT and Sovtour was that the OPT was engaged in organizing amateur hikes, while the Sovtour served groups of vacationers along predetermined routes, which were mainly of a general educational and local history nature.
Along with domestic tourism in the USSR, foreign tourism also begins to develop very early. Just as with the development of domestic tourism, propaganda issues were a priority here.
In April 1936, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR considered it inappropriate to further develop tourism within the framework of a voluntary society and decided to liquidate it. All property of the OPTE (society of proletarian tourism and excursions) was transferred to the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, where the tourist and excursion management (TEU) of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions was created, which was entrusted with the management of tourist routes of all-Union significance, as well as all activities in the field of tourism and excursions. The functions of the territorial TEU, which worked on a self-supporting principle according to the planned tasks of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, included tourism promotion, public consultations, cultural and mass services and economic services along the way, route development, as well as the construction of tourist houses, mountain huts, camps, and the production of equipment. In November 1937, the Charter of the Tourist and Excursion Administration of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions was approved.
This period of development of Russian tourism is characterized by a transition from administrative regulation of tourism to economic incentives based on new Russian laws concerning both entrepreneurship and the market in general, and tourism activities in particular.
The Great Patriotic War and the recovery period pushed the tourist problems into the background. Domestic tourism began to revive only in the late 1940s.
In the post-war years, both planned and amateur, sports, children's and family tourism became widespread.
Tourism was also restored in the Armed Forces of the USSR. According to the order of the Minister of Defense, the chief of the Logistics of the Armed Forces was entrusted with the head of this direction in tourism, and the direct leadership was entrusted to the Department of Tourism and Excursions of the Ministry of Defense. The All-Army Council for Tourism was specially created to attract wide sections of the army and navy public to this work. Tourism, both planned and amateur, soon becomes one of the most popular and popular types of recreation.
By the mid 1980s. there were 24 camp sites that were subordinate to the military departments and the Ministry of Defense. From 1980 to 1985 alone, about 1.2 million military personnel and members of their families rested on them. Most popular in Soviet time camp site "Terskol" used tourists all year round. In summer, hikes and excursions around the Elb-Rus were made from here, and skiers came in winter. Its uniqueness, however, lay elsewhere. Only here were developed routes of various categories: from the simplest, giving the right to the badge "Tourist of the USSR", to the I category of complexity.
Dozens of bus routes across the USSR were developed. River trips along the Volga and the Volga-Balt were also popular, and in July a 15-day tour along the Yenisei from Krasnoyarsk to the polar Dikson was held annually. Care was also shown for the families of young officers.
It tripled in the mid-1980s. the number of camp sites where it was possible to relax with children from the age of five 1 .
Amateur tourism was also not ignored. Since the 1970s annual all-army competitions for the best tourist trip began to be held, and since 1976 - all-army gatherings of tourists. These were great events.
Traditionally, school tourism has been an important area of tourist and excursion work. Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, the start of the All-Russian tourist expedition "My Motherland - the USSR" was announced. The idea of resuming this expedition was returned only in the mid-1950s. In 1956, Pionerskaya Pravda and the Central Children's Excursion and Tourist Station published the main provisions of this Expedition. The work unfolded in seven areas: “Lenin is still more alive than all the living”, “To the secrets of nature”, “Art belongs to the people”, “In the everyday life of great construction projects”, etc.
Since 1957, the history of Soviet maritime tourism begins. Intourist rented two ships - "Victory" and "Georgia", on which sea voyages around Europe from Odessa to Leningrad were carried out. The ship "Peter the First" conducted Black Sea cruises for tourists from the socialist countries. And in 1960, the notorious ship "Admiral Nakhimov" began to run along the Crimean-Caucasian coast. In the early 1960s sea tourism began to develop in the Baltic, and the ship "Grigory Ordzhonikidze" arranged 20-day tours along the Far East coast.
It took ten post-war years to create requirements that meet European standards for receiving foreign tourists. It was necessary to build a network of hotels and restaurants, gain experience in transporting a large number of foreigners by air and rail
1 [Sokolova M.V. History of tourism: Tutorial for stud. Higher Textbook Institutions. - 2nd ed., revised. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2004 p. 294] transport, deploy advertising and, finally, establish the production of souvenirs.
Intourist organized not only group tours, but also individual sea and river cruises, trips of foreigners to the resorts of the USSR, and Soviet citizens to foreign resorts. Exclusive tours were arranged, for example, for hunting.
Since 1964, Intourist began to receive tourists for treatment at the most famous resorts in the country. These included sanatoriums famous for their mineral springs, for example, Matsesta in Sochi, Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk, Tskhaltubo therapeutic mud, etc.
In the 1960s In the USSR, there were five areas of tourism that existed largely in parallel to each other:
professional tourism (Central Council for Tourism and Excursions TsSTiE at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions);
foreign tourism ( State Committee on foreign tourism under the Council of Ministers of the USSR);
youth tourism (Sputnik under the Komsomol Central Committee);
military tourism (Department for Tourism and Excursions of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR);
school tourism (TsDTES of the Ministry of Education of the USSR).
In the 1960s tourist and excursion organizations of trade unions have developed over 13,000 routes - linear, ring, radial. In order to ensure the development and production of various types of advertising, organization in the press, radio, television and cinema of propaganda and advertising of events held by tourist and excursion organizations, it was decided to create an advertising and information bureau "Tourist". It was opened in 1971 and operated on self-supporting terms.
The main tourist regions were Central, which, in addition to Moscow, included Tula, Ryazan, Kaluga, Kalinin, Smolensk, Yaroslavl and Vladimir regions; and the Northwestern, which included the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions. Only the Moscow Tour Bureau in the 1960s. sold 4 million tourist vouchers. Tourist "meccas" during this period are the routes: "Across Pushkin's places", "Along the ancient Russian cities and Leningrad", etc. Although the number of routes in the Central and Northwestern regions was less than, say, in Transcaucasia or Crimea, but in they were attended by a much larger number of tourists due to the development of infrastructure. In addition, large tourist complexes were concentrated here, which were able to serve a large number of travelers. Many routes in the Central and Northwestern regions were all-Union in nature, which also influenced the mass character, although this does not mean that local routes did not exist here.
More than half of all planned all-Union routes were laid in such resort areas as the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, Crimea, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia. This region was the leader in the "concentration" of campsites, tourist bases and hotels, which accounted for more than 50% of their total number in the country 1 .
Routes with active modes of transportation included 55 all-Union routes. These were horse, bicycle, water (boat, kayak and inflatable rafts), pedestrian. A tourist who took part in one of them had the right to receive a certificate and badge "Tourist of the USSR". Nine routes classified as the first category of difficulty, among which are such as "Across the mountainous Crimea",
“Along the Dniester Canyon on rafts”, “Along the Teletskoye Lake and Altai Sokolova M.V. History of tourism: Textbook for students. Higher Textbook Institutions. - 2nd ed., revised. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2004 p. 294] taiga", etc. - could bring the tourist the assignment of the third category in tourism, however, if he already had the "title" "Tourist of the USSR". Tourism in the 1960s became so popular that almost all universities of the USSR created tourist sections, and some universities even organized tourist clubs.
In the 1970s - 1980s. there is an expansion of the geography of tourism. Along with elite sea and river cruises - such as, for example, the "Arctic Cruise", when a trip was made along the Northern Sea Route, starting from Murmansk and ending with Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, along the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans - Okhotsk and Japan; or traveling on comfortable boats along the Lena, Yenisei, Amur - there is a development of amateur routes from Khibiny to Kamchatka. Tourist travel is becoming one of the most popular forms of recreation for Soviet citizens.
Traveling on riverboats took place in all major rivers Soviet Union. More than 40 Tourist Boards of various levels rented boats and organized trips for "their" tourists. And although travel by water transport traditionally had a small share - about 5% of the total volume of transport travel - nevertheless, in the USSR by the beginning of the 1990s. there were about 500 river and sea routes that served 200 ships 1
Planned rail travel first appeared in the 1960s. Gradually, routes using rail transport have become an integral part of many routes of various levels. “Health trains” and special tourist-excursion trains are beginning to form. The routes were compiled in such a way that the railroad crossings between tourist centers occurred mainly at night. In 1986 tourist-excursion trains. Especially popular among the inhabitants of the Far East, the Urals and Siberia were the ring routes, covering the main cities of the European part of the Union, as well as Central Asia.
The relative cheapness of air tickets was one of the components of the boom experienced in the 1980s. air tourism. Moreover, the aviation services of travel agencies and excursions of large cities (according to statistics, there were more than 160 of them) used not only to deliver tourists to places of rest and back, but independent air travel was also developed, for example, the route Moscow - Arkhangelsk - Solovki - Arkhangelsk - Moscow and dozens of others.
Weekend hikes are becoming a favorite for many citizens. Only in the 1980s. more than 20 million people took part in them 1 .
In the 1960s - 1980s. tourism was no longer of that forcibly ideologized character, as in the pre-war years. Its material base has increased many times over. Various tourist organizations have developed thousands of various routes of various types, duration, complexity and comfort. Tourism has firmly entered the life of a Soviet person, becoming an integral part of it. But, due to the fact that tourism was of a pronounced social nature, the demand for tourist services significantly outstripped supply. And numerous tourist and excursion bureaus could not provide everyone with vouchers.
Features of the transition period:
1. transition from a monopoly economy to a mixed economy (tourist
enterprises become the property of different owners);
- 2. formation of the tourist market on the basis of new laws;
- 3. the use of tourism resources in market conditions based on new
- 1 [Shapoval G.F. History of tourism. - Minsk, 1999] economic and legal relations;
- 4. changing nature of demand due to the emergence of new species
tourist services (outbound shopping tours, entertainment and adventure tours, a tour for the purpose of learning a language, etc.
- 5. lack of demand for the material base of tourism (hotels, boarding houses, rest houses);
- 6. the emergence of a large number of small and medium-sized tourism enterprises;
- 7. growth of average indicators of outbound tourism, especially for the purpose of shopping.
For the entire range of services for foreign tourists, including meeting and seeing off, excursions and visits to theaters and museums, passport registration, was responsible special bureau services of Intourist. The passion for the centralization of any activity also affected this organization, therefore political and commercial considerations prevailed in the activities of Intourist, which gave rise to specific problems.
Of course, even the most high level the services that Intourist could provide fell short of world standards. Partially service inconveniences were redeemed by the interest of foreigners in the exoticism of the world's first socialist state. But it was not only the shortcomings of the material base and the training of personnel. In the activity of Intourist from the very beginning, two installations fought. On the one hand, these were the commercial interests of the country, which needed an influx of foreign currency, and this made it necessary to follow market requirements and conjuncture. On the other hand, contacts with foreign citizens attracted increased political attention and control of law enforcement agencies. I wanted to show foreigners how well and happily Soviet people live, but at the same time, any contacts with "ordinary Soviet people" were forbidden or tightly controlled. The image of the country depended on foreign tourists, but they were provided with strictly dosed information.
These contradictory attitudes became especially noticeable on the eve of the Second World War and in the first post-war years. In the pre-war period, the purpose of a visit to the USSR could be either a business trip or pure tourism, therefore, arriving foreigners were carefully monitored so that they would in no way deviate from the program of stay, the approved route, and avoid contact with Soviet citizens. Decisions on the rules for receiving and serving tourists were made at the level of political leadership, and not by economic services. The decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks are known, which condemned the practice of receiving tips, calling for increased attraction of tourists from rich countries. Government agencies approved the tourism plan as if it were some kind of production.
The political background of foreign tourism was aggravated by close supervision by the political power structures - the GPU, then the NKVD and the MGB. Information about the USSR was limited, it was forbidden to deviate from the prescribed route, the guides had to approve the text that accompanied the excursions. During the excursions, foreign tourists were allowed to photograph everything except factories, factories, bridges, railway structures and crossings, airfields, piers, ruins, beggars, i.e. everything that was considered "strategic objects" or "denigration of the Soviet country." At the border, when leaving, they had to present photographic and film materials in the developed form. Moreover, if, after visiting the USSR, books, interviews, films of a tourist appeared that "discredited Soviet reality", a campaign was launched to discredit him. The leadership of Intourist constantly pointed to the propaganda component in tourism activities among foreigners. Much attention was paid to promotional materials, the presentation of the USSR as the main power of the future world (Fig. 15.1). The peculiarity of Intourist's advertising materials was that they promoted not the level of service in the USSR or the rich opportunities for recreational, medical or cultural tourism, the main product is socialism, the Soviet way of life as the main exotic object of tourist interest. It was a kind of market "unique trade proposition" - the only country of socialism in the world.
Rice. 15.1.
Propaganda tasks and constant political control limited the commercial opportunities of Intourist. The practice of accepting foreign delegations, sometimes very numerous, "at public expense" also interfered, although the infrastructure of Intourist was used in this case. In 1938, the entry of foreigners into the USSR amounted to about 6 million people, of which only 2.5 million were "real" tourists ( Voronkova, from. 203).
Nevertheless, the merit of the pre-war Intourist was the establishment of contacts with foreign carriers, hotels, restaurants. Since 1934, Intourist began working with such global companies as American Express Thomas Cook & son, Travel agency MEP in Germany, Wagon-Li International Sleeping Car Society in France. I had to speak with international partners in the language of the market, to achieve profitable contracts. I had to master the techniques of tourist advertising. The main advertising messenger for foreign tourists arriving in the USSR was the richly illustrated glossy magazine Soviet Travel with a circulation of 10 thousand copies. It was distributed through the foreign structures of Intourist and fully complied with international advertising principles in tourism. In 1939-1940s. there were several large international exhibitions organized by Intourist to promote the image of the USSR: in New York, Koenigsberg, Leipzig, Varna and Plovdiv.
An important indicator of the development of foreign tourism in the USSR was the increase in the number of routes offered by Intourist to foreign guests. If in 1931 there were 12 of them, then in 1936 the number of routes reached 26 (Soviet Through the Looking Glass, p. 29). The routes included visits to Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, as well as other large cities, including those in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Intourist routes included excursions developed in previous years to Ai-Petri in the Crimea, along the Georgian Military Highway in the Caucasus, and through the old Russian cities around Moscow. Several exclusive one-off projects were also unique. In 1931, a scientific and tourist expedition took place on the icebreaker "Malygin" to Novaya Zemlya; in 1934, the American steamer "Victoria" with American tourists made a boat trip near Cape Dezhnev, where they met with representatives of the Soviet side on the steamer "Uritsky", etc. (Soviet Looking Glass, p. 31). Since 1933, a theater festival has been held annually, which was also aimed at foreign tourists. In 1935, Intourist for the first time began to serve transit pilgrimage and religious tours from China to Europe. In 1936, group trips to the USSR accounted for more than 36% of all those arriving in the country (Soviet Through the Looking Glass, p. 50).
In 1939, Intourist celebrated the tenth anniversary of its work. Among the most valuable achievements was the presentation of the socialist regime and the Soviet way of life. The anniversary documents gave preference to the propaganda side of Intourist's activities, leaving in the shade the actual development of tourism as a way of organizing leisure and the economic goals of working with foreign tourists.
Thanks to Intourist, some traditions of the school of excursion business have been preserved in the USSR. The Intourist independently trained cadres of guides-translators. Unlike Western practice, Soviet guides were not limited to escorting groups and interpreting, they were required to know what was included in excursions for foreign tourists, the ability to answer questions that related to the life of the Soviet country, culture, politics, history. The Soviet escorts had to settle the problems associated with passport and regime rules for visiting various cities and regions. The training of guide-interpreters was carried out at various courses, which lasted from two to three months of excursion practice to eight to nine months of training. foreign languages. Despite the efforts of Intourist, the commercial rules of the service did not take root well, since Soviet guides did not consider themselves service personnel and built relationships with foreign tourists depending on the composition of the group and their own ideas about their task. The standards of service for guide-interpreters in the USSR were not in effect, since they were required, first of all, to have an "active political position." Repressive "purges" of the late 1930s. Intourist was also not spared, where "spies", "enemies of the people" were also detected, and contacts with foreigners aroused increased attention from the state security agencies.
In 1939-1940s. arrivals of foreign groups for the purpose of tourism in the USSR practically ceased. The work of Intourist was more and more reduced to organizing business trips and organizing the transit of tourists - up to 80-90% in the structure of the entire activity of the organization (Soviet Through the Looking Glass, p. 75). With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the activities of Intourist were curtailed to a minimum. Only the management structure and a small part of the staff survived. Intourist provided services for diplomats who worked in the USSR and a few business visits during wartime.
Intourist was also engaged in outbound tourism, although this side of the activity did not receive mass development for socio-political reasons. In 1938, 4.3 million Soviet citizens left the USSR through various departments, but only about 1 million were organized tourists ( Voronkova , from. 203).
The beginning of tourism cannot be dated not only by a year, but also by a century: its origins date back to antiquity, when the separation of man from the animal world was just beginning, laying the foundations of civilization in the hardest struggle.
Having considered the history of tourism in Russia according to publications, it should be noted that international tourism, like history Russia, is directly related to the development of Russia, has its origins in ancient times. This is evidenced by the following table.
Table 1
|
The era of tourism development |
Goals and objectives of tourism |
The result of tourism for Russia |
|
|
Ancient world |
Man's knowledge of the environment |
A man did in himself what he saw in others, which is better |
|
|
First centuries AD |
Discovery of new lands. Knowledge of the life and way of life of the population |
Development of science Cognition Implementation of the experience of other countries in your own country |
|
|
Middle Ages |
Development of waterways |
Establishment of Russia's trade with other peoples and countries. The development of knowledge |
|
|
Development of new trade routes, discovery of new countries |
Finding trading partners. Exploring the unknown |
||
|
XVI - XVIII centuries. |
Discovery of the New World sea route to India, ways to Mongolia, China, Asia, Siberia, Far East and other countries |
Development of commodity-money relations, folding Russian market. Changing the worldview of people, the population of Russia |
|
|
Time of Peter I |
Interaction with European countries, knowledge of Kamchatka |
Development of science, development of Russia's relations with the West, geographical research, expansion of Russia's ties with other countries |
|
|
Discovery of new lands, countries, study of management experience |
Establishment of diplomatic and trade relations with China, with the countries of South and South-East Asia, with India. The process of activating economic ties |
||
|
XVIII - early XX century. |
Development of excursion business, tourism organizations |
Study of the surrounding nature, historical places. The emergence of the first tourist organizations, the reception of foreign guests. The emergence of tourism circles. Formation of tourist-organizational work |
|
|
First decade of the twentieth century |
Knowledge of the world in round-the-world travel |
Contribution to the development of Russian travel abroad. Dissemination of technical knowledge. Creation of tourist and excursion business, the first excursion commissions |
Development of tourism in the USSR
There are several stages in the development of tourism in the USSR.
First stage: 1917 - 1936. This stage is characterized by the creation of socio-economic conditions, the emergence of the excursion and tourist movement. The first institutions of proletarian tourism are being created. In the field of international tourism, the following tasks are set: to provide friends of the USSR with the opportunity to get acquainted with the progress of socialist construction in the USSR, to expand the volume of trips of Soviet citizens abroad.
Since 1920, departments and institutions began to conduct excursions and some trips. Interest in tourism began to grow. So in 1921, more than 400 group excursions were conducted by the excursion section of the Gubpolitprosveta. Approximately the same number of people served the Moscow mountains. advice. In 1921, an excursion conference was held in Petrograd with the participation of trade unions. She recommended expanding tourism and excursion networks. Various institutions began to organize tourism. Certain measures for the development of tourism were taken by the state. They were aimed at creating a material and technical base and training of professional tourism personnel. In 1923, 2,500 group teachers of tourist groups were trained. By the beginning of the 1920s, the geography of tourism was taking shape. If in 1918-1920. Since hikes and trips were carried out within the country, then from 1921 dressage outside the country began.
By the end of the 1920s, within the framework of the general tasks of cultural work, it became necessary to streamline the management of tourism and excursions, to create a target organization capable of providing the population with meaningful and cheap travel.
Trade unions became organizers of excursion and tourist work. A lot of work on tourism is carried out by the Komsomol.
In 1927, a central bureau of mass tourism appeared, a temporary reference and instruction center and an organizing commission were created.
The second stage in the development of tourism in the USSR (1936-1969) is characterized by the introduction of new organizational forms of tourism management. Tourist-organizational departments are being created in the center and in the territories. The management of independent tourism was entrusted to the All-Union Council of Physical Culture under the Central Executive Committee. In the mid-1930s, almost all mass voluntary tourism societies were liquidated. An administrative-command system is taking shape in the country, which did not need amateur societies, they were replaced by officials. The last step was the repressions of 1937-1939.
Nevertheless, tourism, subordinated to the administrative-command system, continues to develop. Sports tourism is developing significantly. In 1937 - 1940. a comprehensive reorganization of the structure of tourism was carried out, which was based on strict state-party planning of capital investments, personnel and the geography of reactionary activity.
The implementation of planned tourism was entrusted to 25 tourist and excursion departments of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, 16 excursion bureaus, 165 tourist houses, 50 tourist centers, 12 tourist hotels, 24 station camps, 19 tourist and mountaineering shelters, hundreds of temporary tent camps and campsites.
During the Great Patriotic War, tourist and excursion activities were completely stopped.
Along with the restoration of the destroyed national economy, the system of tourist and excursion institutions was restored and adjusted. However, this process was very slow and contradictory. The reason is that the residual principle of financing the social sphere dominated.
In 1962, a system of tourism councils was created, the management is carried out by the Central Council for Tourism of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. The tourism activity has started to intensify. In all the Union republics, Tourism Councils were organized, which developed and mastered tour routes. All-Union and local routes covered the whole country. More than 50% of all-Union planned tour routes were laid in five regions of the Soviet Union: the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Crimea, the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.
In 1986, there were 17 equestrian routes in the Soviet Union in Altai, the South Urals, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and other regions. Bicycle routes have appeared in a number of places. Transport trips were also among the local planned routes: motor ships, rail, and air. Sea excursions were also organized along the Black Sea, along the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, along the White, Barents, and Red Seas. In the 1980s, aviation tour routes acquired a massive character. More than 160 bureaus used aviation services, which allowed 2 million people to have a rest every year.
To address the issues of youth international exchange in June 1958, the Bureau of Youth International Tourism "Sputnik" was established.
The restructuring of the second half of the 80s eventually led to the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of the unified tourist and excursion system of the Soviet Union. The process of creating independent states, as well as national tourist and excursion organizations, began.
Europe has become the cradle of international tourism. Russia took experience foreign countries, and each era is characterized by its development in tourism. In principle, the activities of Russia in tourism are not much different from the forms of other countries. The growth of advancement also demanded development from Russia: economy, trade, transport, industry, and the market. The rapid development required travel abroad, the development of new types of transportation.
table 2
|
The era of tourism development |
Goals and objectives of tourism |
The result of tourism for Russia |
|
|
1917 -1940 |
Creation of socio-economic conditions |
Cultural revolution in the country's economy. interest in tourism. The emergence of tourism institutions, the Bureau of Tourism. Development of foreign tourism, reception and service ("Intourist" hotel) |
|
|
1946 - 1960 |
Introduction of new organizational forms for tourism |
Planned tourism. Creation of routes, acquaintance with the nature and economy of the country. Creation of youth international tourism with the aim of receiving guests on vacation, traveling abroad for recreation |
|
|
1970 - 1980 |
Intensive development of domestic and foreign tourism |
Cognition, rest, treatment of people, organization of group international tourism |
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