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On 31 May, the Human Security and Development Council held its meeting in the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea. The meeting was focused on the results of the UNDP CIDP’s research “Rural tourism in Crimea – development prospects”.
“The Council has undertaken a big task”, in such a way Vladimir Konstantinov, head of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, addressed the participants. “We are here not only to listen to another report. Our work is targeted at sustainable development of Crimea… I want meetings of the Human Security and Development Council to produce concrete policy decisions”.
The main attention was paid to the analytical research conducted by UNDP CIDP experts in October-November 2009 to analyze supply and demand for rural tourism and tourist services.
Today this type of tourism already exists on the Peninsula; however, it is rather weak. The basic obstacles for its development are poor infrastructure, scanty financing, unstable economic environment in the country, escalating prices of foodstuffs and absence of local authorities’ support.
Yet, there are some positive trends. According to opinion polls, conducted as part of the research, 7.5% of Ukrainian tourists plan to visit in-land Crimea in the next two years. And this means that over the period in-land Crimea may be visited by as many as 900,000 tourists.
So, what attracts rural tourists in Crimea? First of all, its unique nature. Most of the tourists mentioned such advantages as clean air and water, picturesque landscapes of mountains and foothills.
“Due to its unique nature, Crimea has a bright outlook in this sector”, considers Vladimir Konstantinov.“The question is how to implement all this. Of course, we need a programme. Without the programme there will be spontaneous development”.
Two years ago, the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea adopted a Rural Tourism Development Programme. But, unfortunately, it received financing for one year only. In 2009, in view of scanty funds, it was excluded from the list of financing.
“We should create and test several rural tourism models. Each of them should take into account the development of the whole village and not only of one particular object”, thinks Adeline Gonay, UNDP CIDP International Programme Coordinator.”Once these models are developed, there is a need to carry out profitability analysis to define how much to invest in each village”.
In other words, we should act instead of letting grass grow under feet. In particular, this was mentioned by Ayder Seitosmanov, UNDP CIDP Regional Development Advisor.
“For the situation to change in five-ten years, we should start working today”, he underscored. “All the problems related to poor infrastructure, legal framework, etc, cannot be solved in one day. This is one of the reasons why the issue of rural tourism development should be discussed at the highest level”.
Download the research report (in Russian)
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