And the forum was appropriately named: “Discover the Atom: Trends in Popular Science Tourism.” Two months ago, the Russian Union of the Tourism Industry (RST) and the Agency for the Development of Children, Youth and Family Tourism, Educational and Innovative Practices joined its organization. Representatives of the tourism industry from many regions of Russia, as well as partners from Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, were invited to participate.
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
The initially stated objective seems ambitious: to launch popular science tourism by focusing on young people: students, schoolchildren and their parents. And in this matter, the Atom Museum aims to become the engine, the driver of the entire process. And in the future it will assume the role of an international center, attracting and distributing flows of scientific popularization tourism.
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
Receiving guests as a host, Elena Mironenko shared her dream: that everyone who comes to Moscow for the first time, after Red Square, will strive to visit the Atom Museum. So this site becomes the most visited place in VDNKh and is included in all popular tourist routes in Moscow, Russia, near and far abroad. It is not inferior to either the Tretyakov Gallery, or the Kremlin museums, or the renovated Polytechnic, the opening of which we are eager to see…
When RG asked her directly how many visitors she would like to see at Atom, the museum director responded just as candidly:
“The dream figure is one million per year. The figure is very ambitious, but I always strive to reach the Sun to be able to jump at least to the Moon…”
Many sensible initiatives and proposals were expressed in the plenary session and in the strategic session. But no fewer problems were identified that require legislative solutions and interested support at the executive level. The role of moderator at two consecutive meetings was taken on by the head of the Committee on Children and Family Tourism of the Russian Union of the Tourism Industry, Olesya Mulier.
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
Leaders of the parent community, including communities of large families and heads of regional travel companies, on the one hand, and on the other, representatives of the Ministry of Education of Russia and relevant departments of the Moscow government tried in a general dialogue to understand what slows down or even blocks the development of group (for schools) and family forms of scientific dissemination and educational and professionally oriented tourism. Including day tours within your city or region.
How these problems are solved (or NOT solved) in different regions of Russia, the director of ANO “More than traveling”, Sergei Mishin, the director of school number 1852 in Moscow, the president of the Association of School Directors of the Capital, Dmitry Isaev, Natalya, head of the association of large families, told us, drawing on examples from her own experience Karpovich and the head of the famous travel company “Red Elephant” in Tyumen, Lyubov Matievskaya, is also the mother of many children…
“There is no need to recreate what has already been created and works,” Matievskaya summarized at the end of her presentation. “We have developed routes, including career-oriented ones, that have real demand and impact. The students went to Novosibirsk, visited Akademgorodok and universities, and a year later, after passing the Unified State Exam, almost half of that group went to Novosibirsk to study…”
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
According to the speakers, there are 20 million schoolchildren in Russia, but few travel, even if they have financial means. Almost one in three people have never traveled outside their municipal district during their time at school; These statistics were also presented at the conference. Only recently has the situation started to change a little.
“I confirm this as a girl from Minusinsk who first came to St. Petersburg when she was 16 years old,” Elena Mironenko admitted and was immediately supported by Anastasia Trushina, who represented the Vladimir region at the forum.
“I spent my childhood in Sovetsk, in the Kaliningrad region. And I remember well the first time I ended up in St. Petersburg and now here, in the Vladimir-Suzdal land, where there are not only white stone churches. among other things, including science, developed industry “In 2027 the anniversary of the Golden Ring route will be celebrated and we propose to think together how and how to complement it, so that, together with Russian culture and architecture, we can. show tourists the achievements of modern science and technologies…” said Anastasia Trushina.
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
ANO “National Priorities” editor-in-chief Gleb Fedorov recalled the scientific tourism routes that have already been developed within the framework of the “Decade of Science and Technology.” In four years, more than 70 have been inaugurated in 19 regions of Russia, 150 museums and more than 1,200 exhibits participate in these projects.
“The task is to make popular science tourism a part of ordinary tourism. Here it is important to find understanding and support from those who had never before thought that tourists would come to their place, to their region…” Fedorov noted. .
What about foreign participants at the conference? What experience do they have and what do they consider the benefits of professional communication?
The head of the National Tourism Bureau of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Rui, stated that her colleagues are interested in developing close tourism relations with Russia. He talked about the programs that are already underway and what routes are currently in development.
A colleague from India, Anup Kumar Srivastava, an active scientific popularizer and ex-officio advisor to the Indian Embassy in Moscow, highly appreciated the way the work of the Atom Museum is organized. And he said that he had already interacted with the Tourism Committee of the Moscow government before: many tourists from India arrived in the Russian capital, most of them students.
“And now I strongly recommend visiting this particular place as an important part of a scientific trip. I set myself the goal: to bring a thousand tourists to the Atom Museum by the end of this year!” – Srivastava promised in front of the entire room.
General Director of Vatel Almaty (Kazakhstan), Nurlan Bakhytuly, speaking about the situation in his country, noted the serious shortage of professional personnel in the field of popular science tourism. These generalists, as he said, “need to be educated at school,” something that has been actively pursued in the Russian nuclear industry in recent years. The guest from Kazakhstan stated that the neighbors look at this experience with interest.
As if anticipating such a question about new personnel and idea generation, within the framework of the forum they organized the work of a creative laboratory to create popular scientific tourist routes. Its participants, representatives of the All-Russian Youth Council of Tourism PCT, laid out the still virtual roads and paths for future tours. The organizers of the forum promised to analyze these proposals so that not a single worthwhile idea is lost.
It was decided to turn the scientifically oriented museum and tourist forum, which was held for the first time on the basis of the Atom Museum, into an annual event. So that this platform of the country’s main exhibition becomes a center of attraction for ideas, a crossroads of opinions and a cradle of brilliant new projects.
Photo: Alexander Emelyanenkov/RG
