The train to the homeland of Santa Claus.

Judging by the results of a survey by the agency Aventica, tourism within the country could not replace foreign outings for residents of Russia: only 49% of Russians noted that domestic tourism can be considered an alternative to foreign tourism and are ready for it. 26% of respondents do not categorically deny that domestic holidays can replace foreign trips, another number of respondents have not decided on a final answer. According to statistics, about 67% of residents of our country plan to visit resorts to relax by the end of the year, 22% of them choose foreign countries. The highest percentage of residents wishing to relax abroad in the capital of our homeland and St. Petersburg.

The reliability of the data is confirmed by the statistics of the sale of tours from companies: those wishing to relax in Russia by the beginning of autumn is clearly falling. According to Travelata.ru if in the summer months the percentage of domestic tours sold was 32, then by autumn it had decreased to 18%, which is quite a lot.

Dmitry Malyutin noted in an interview that this year the velvet season will be very active for tourists, since the virus has taken away almost three full months of the holiday season from them. Also, almost all tourists have lost the opportunity to travel abroad. Tour operators began to rejoice too early at the possibility of selling domestic flights, since most residents of our country do not want to rest in their country to a greater extent, but rather want to take a break from it. This is especially true after such a long period of self-isolation.

But the leadership of the Volgograd region does not share this point of view at all, it is there that the birthplace of Santa Claus is located, which has long been considered one of the most visited tourist sites in this region.

More recently, Governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov announced plans to attract new tourists to the homeland of the fabulous grandfather. The main point was the development of railways in one of perhaps the most remote parts of Vologda region.

The Governor discussed these actions with Dmitry Pegov, who is the Deputy General Director of JSC Russian Railways. What exactly is this plan?

The main goal of the governor is to double the number of tourists visiting Santa Claus. In his opinion, the main point for the implementation of this plan will be the adjustment of railway connections with Veliky Ustyug, where most visitors come by train through the city of Kotlas.

Kuvshinnikov has a slightly different opinion, he believes that the regularity of their plan will consist in launching special trains on holidays or weekends from the capital and St. Petersburg.

If you look at the release of the press service, it can be understood that during the meeting, Oleg Kuvshinnikov himself mainly offered the basic information and ways to attract the flow of tourists to Veliky Ustyug, without giving a special choice to Pegov.

The Deputy General Director of Russian Railways was in no hurry to make promises to men: he spoke cautiously about the repair of railway stations and the organization of existing electric trains from Kotlas. The governor did not try to shorten the picture presented by him and described it in detail to his interlocutors. "Today our main task is to organize the movement of trains in the most visited season, determine their frequency and number of cars, make a schedule from Moscow and St. Petersburg so that it is convenient for tourists to adjust it for themselves, hire the largest tour operators of the country and make sure that demand does not fall outside depending on the season," Oleg Kuvshinnikov noted. He also added that the President's order was to create and develop such a large-scale project on the territory of the Russian Federation.

During the meeting, Vladimir Vladimirovich was referred to more than once, there was a feeling that the name was used to solve all the problems that arose, which actually was the case, because without the rejuvenation of the president of the SRT, a huge national project called "Veliky Ustyug - the birthplace of Santa Claus" would not have become part of the project for the development of domestic tourism and hospitality. Without approval, it would not have received such huge funding, which is already being gradually invested in its development.

It is difficult to imagine how much it cost the governor to convince the president of the need for this project. It can be assumed that the main lever of pressure in favor of Oleg Kuvshinnikov was the world-famous economically positive attitude of the president to the development of infrastructure, including roads, communications, airports, etc.

This is not a new idea. She's been waiting in the wings for a long time. But only now this moment has come, when so many changes and innovations have taken place. Business always has the opportunity to "push" to the right decisions.

It's not just about business right now. This can be understood by the plans. According to one of them, in four years the number of tourists in the Veliky Ustyug area should double, it is obvious that this is a promise that the governor gave to the president in return for investments.

But what if people refuse to visit the patrimony of Santa Claus so en masse? The development of different types of transport, of course, plays a significant role in tourism, but not the main one, sometimes this is not enough.

People realize what they will get when visiting the resorts of Cyprus, Turkey or Tunisia - these are the most popular foreign resorts among Russians. They understand what they will get from a vacation in the South or even Altai. Even Karelia, neighboring Vologda region, is considered a local Finland, with rivers and the purest lakes. But few people will be able to imagine what awaits him on the Patrimony of Santa Claus in addition to the Ice Palace or the Palace of Santa Claus, which has not even been built yet. Unfortunately, the authors of the palace cannot decide on the history in any way so that it attracts tourists.

Even a vacation in Turkey, which has become boring to many, is an indicator of the status and receipt of high-quality services, something that they receive less often in their own homeland.

It is for these reasons that outbound tourism is most popular among the residents of the country and does not lose its relevance regardless of the level of development of the internal infrastructure.