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Domestic tourism in Russia is experiencing a real boom.
The number of package tours and early reservations are maxing out.
According to the tourism industry, demand for
resorts in the Crimea increased by four times;
of the Krasnodar region, by two times.
Foreign visitors also take more interest in our country,
but not only in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.
Olga Knyazeva has more on the destinations
most attractive to foreigners.
It's hard to take a pictures with the wind blowing
straight in one's face on a minus-15 chilly day.
But who cares about the bad weather
when one is surrounded
with this charming beauty of Lake Baikal.
If only he doesn't freeze up on his way to the local market.
Re Kurume, a tourist from Japan:
- I'm in university. Now I'm on spring vacation.
I've decided to spend it abroad
and have chosen Russia, regardless of the cold.
Baikal is very beautiful.
They welcome the student from Tokyo
like an old friend in the market.
- Take it. It's a gift to you.
Like yesterday, today he comes here
to have Baikal's main souvenir - omul.
Salesmen praise their goods:
- Very good. Very nice.
Fishermen and tour operators count their takings.
According to the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism,
the Baikal region in 2015 accepted more than 150,000 tourists.
Experts already note the tendency.
Foreigners take an interest in Russia,
and not only in its capital.
- I speak Russian to them,
and I think they understand me.
The keeper in the 'Demidovskaya Dacha'
in the city of Nizhni Tagil complains that
Germans are like children: they don't take care and slip on the porch
and she has to meet them every time.
The guests appreciate her concern and expect it to continue.
Nina Demchenko, the museum's keeper:
- They say: "Kuch, kuch, you are the kuch".
It means that I'm a cook.
"Will you give us pasteries?"
"Will you serve us a meal?"
Saint-Petersburg does not need any extra publicity.
Tourists seem to travel the length and breadth of the city.
But there is also a new tendency:
the guest-book at the Museum of the Defense
and Siege of Leningrad is full of foreign comments.
Milena Tretyakova, deputy director,
Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad:
- We don't advertise our museum.
Those visitors who come here do it on their own initiative.
They come to Russia and say: I want to visit a place related to
the siege and the battle for Leningrad.
Two times as many Chinese tourists have now
become familiar with the so-called 'red Revolutionary Route' -
Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Kazan, Saint-Petersburg.
Lenin's favourite dacha, Lenin's Gorki, is especially popular.
As they say here, a Chinese visitor is a guide's dream:
he listens attentively and poses thoughtful questions.
Jokes about the leader are taboo for them.
Lu Chan Yun, tourist from China:
- Do you know any jokes about Lenin?
- No, not any. Because he was a great person, leader of the country.
That's why we are no supposed to tell such stories.
Igor Konyshev, director of Lenin's Gorky museum:
- We developed a series of souvenirs related to the museum
and asked Chinese experts how would they like
the magnets depicting Lenin.
They gave us an incredible response:
"It was a negative response, because we don't hang images of leaders on the fridge".
But the Chinese appreciate their language on the signs.
Now they can walk about Lenin's Gorki
the whole day and not go astray.
Last year every tenth tourist that came
to Russia from China visited Lenin's Gorki.
Drop in the ruble exchange rate and it's a good motivation
not just to visit museums, but also to go shopping.
Olga Knyazeva, correspondent:
- According to salesmen, cost-conscious foreign tourists
have never bought so many souvenirs.
But how can one pass by if, for example,
a fur hat costs the same as a cup of coffee in France.
- A traditional Russian fur hat is not only a souvenir,
I will wear it here because I'm not used to such cold weather.
They choose Russia again and again, reread Lenin's biography in Chinese,
examine the Russian stove in the 19th-century estate ,
look for information on the most important
periods in the history of our country.
After visiting it once, they certainly come back.
This is all because of not just
an attractive currency exchanger rate:
- People are very kind and open. I will come back here.
Olga Knyazeva, Alexei Korefanov, Alexander Isayev,
Ekaterina Belova, Vladimir Olkhovski. Channel One.