Irkutsk operator's itinerary was awarded by the Golden Palm Tree at ITB

A program called Siberian kitchen stories that was created by Absolute Siberia received the Golden Palm Tree during the ITB trade fair last week in Berlin. The prestigious award by Geo magazine is presented to those who manage to create new, original and innovative tours. The work from Irkutsk was introduced to the “GEO Saison – best trips of 2012” contest by German partners of Absolute Siberia – Baikal Express.

Out of 250 itineraries that were selected for the contest the jury nominated 12 tours in 4 categories, including “Traveling for gourmets & active tours”. This nomination was won by an ethnic program called Siberian kitchen stories, which was created by Absolute Siberia. The program from Irkutsk won in a very tight competition against some world-famous tour creators.

Siberian kitchen stories is a 12-day program during which tourists get to know about the history and culture of the Baikal region in terms of local cuisine which was affected by Buryats, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. Tourists learn how to cook pelmeni (Russian dumplings), borsch, Buryatian noodles, salamat (porridge from flour, salt and butter), and many other original recipes.

General Manager of Absolute Suberia, Alexei Nikiforov hopes that other tour operators in the region will use the idea of the Siberian kitchen stories tour to make similar programs of their own.

GEO magazine writes mainly about tourism and traveling, and is a source of priceless information about the world for millions of readers. This year’s award ceremony was the 20-th in a row. The jury consisted of 11 members – journalists and professionals in the travel market. The jury’s objective was to grade the tours that had a unique and original way to represent the region or tours that stood out by the way they were introduced to the media.