Tour operators in Chelyabinsk had to deal with many calls and e-mailsfrom foreign partners and clients on the day after the meteor crash. Many people
agreed after evaluating the damage and confirming there was no threat, that this
was a landmark event for the region, and may be well used for promotional purposes.
A company called Yekaterinburg Guide
Center is ready to design
their own crash site tours. Konstantin Brylyakov, the company's General Manager
is sure that new tourists are just around the corner: “Our colleagues around the
globe are all saying the same thing – events of such nature are bound to be popular
with tourists. It was a very unique occurrence. And there are a lot of people who
are moved by scientific interest or just plain curiosity. I mean, nowadays themed
tours are very popular. Some travel to enjoy bird watching, others need to study
minerals in order to have a good vacation. Of course, the food tours are very popular.
So the crash of the meteor is very likely to attract attention from people who are
into this sort of thing”.
Mr. Brylyakov believes that the best way
to organize a tourist route would be to take tourists from Yekaterinburg to Chelyabinsk, stopping along the way at the Chebarkul Lake where the meteor fell. It would also
allow tourists to see picturesque towns like Zlatoust, Miass and others. “I'm sure some of
our foreign clients, who are planning a summer trip to the Urals, would very much
enjoy such an unordinary excursion. And some people may even decide to visit Russia just for
that”.
Lake Chebarkul is
situated in the Chelyabinsk region, on the eastern
slope of Southern Urals. It is a very important
water source for the city that bears the same name, as well as a very popular recreational
zone for locals. The nature here is beautiful. By the way, Chebarkul means a beautiful
lake in Turkic. There are numerous hotels and spas on the shore, so accommodation
can be found with no hassle.
Yet not everyone believes the meteorite
is such a crowd pleaser. “Some extreme tourists may want to come, but pretty soon
they will find out, there's really not much to see. It's hard to predict tourists'
behavior, from my vantage point in Chelyabinsk.
But I don't really see people going crazy for this meteorite”, – said Anatoliy Gurevich,
Chairman of the Board at Susanin.
Viktor Mikhalchuk, General Manager of
Turgid, shares the opinion: “There has been a lot of negative information about
our region. For instance, everyone knows about the dumping of radioactive materials.
It's not that easy to change foreigners' opinions overnight. If we have something
to show to the world, it's Arkaim – one of the oldest human settlements. This sight
is almost as interesting as the pyramids in Egypt. In my opinion, promoting it is
better than getting our hopes up about the meteorite”.
On the other hand, Elmira Tukanova, Head
of the Sverdlovsky
Region Development
Center, thinks that the event
can be used for positive promotion. “There is a lot of damage in the region, thankfully
no one was killed. The bright flash in the sky was registered by people from different
regions of the Urals. The whole world is looking in our direction. And the fall
of the meteor is an important event not only for the region, but for the country
as a whole. I believe that the interest towards this part of Russia may rise,
resulting in increase of tourists”.
According to Mrs. Tukanova, the crash
of the meteor can affect business and scientific tourism. “We can see many journalists
being interested in this. There are many programs on TV and radio about what has
happened. It's possible that some scientific research will be in order. And during
summer I think we'll see a lot of people trying to find a piece of the meteor all
over the region. I believe this event can be used in the creation of the Big Urals
brand, which we are developing right now. I'm making a presentation for ITB trade
fair in Berlin,
and I think it would only be right if I spoke about our guest from the stars. Not
a lot of regions can say they had alien rocks falling on them”.
The travel market in Russia has some
experience in the field of cosmic entertainment. Operators in the Krasnoyarsk region, for instance, offer individual and very
expensive tours to the taiga, to the place where Tunguska
fell. And in 2008 the Altai region suffered a boom of tourism due to a complete
solar eclipse. Market representatives say that the number of foreign tourists in
that year was extremely high, and it will take years to match it again.
Mayor of Chebarkul, Andrey Orlov, is looking
for monetization help from the general public. He addressed the internet, saying
that the city is looking for good ideas on how to make money on the event. He also
promised a small piece of meteorite to the author of the best proposition.
