29 September 2012. RIA-Novosti Infographics. International Tourism: Makeup and Number of Trips to Various World Regions

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Annually, 27 September is World Tourism Day. The General Assembly of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) created this observance in order to emphasise the importance of travel as an economic factor and as a means of strengthening international ties. The UNWTO didn’t choose this date by chance; it adopted its charter on this date in 1970. Most countries have celebrated World Tourism Day for more than 30 years. Russia joined in as well in 1983; in 2003, when it focused on the end of the tourist season in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of it in the Southern Hemisphere, Russia was in charge of the event. In 2012, World Tourism Day has the motto, “Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Energy for Sustainable Development“. The official celebration will be in Spain, in Maspalomas.

27 September 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20120928/176277103.html

10 July 2012. Sergei Yolkin’s World. Foreigners Aren’t Afraid of Bears, but Don’t Know Much Else About Our Country

Foreigners Aren’t Afraid of Bears, but Don’t Know Much Else About Our Country

Sergei Yolkin

2009

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Here’s everybody’s favourite bear… from Masha i Medved (Masha and the Bear) from Spokoiny Nochi, Malyshi! (Good Night, Kids!)… Russia’s fave kid’s show on at the end of the “kid day” at 19.30 (all of the old USSR knows Dyadya Volodya and Tyotya Valya… the hosts in the ’60s and ’70s)

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Gennady Pilipenko, Deputy Head of the Federal Tourism Agency, said that the Russian government wants to open overseas information centres on the possibilities of tourism in Russia outside of the two capitals, whose potential remains untapped. Pilipenko headed the Russian delegation at the London international tourist exhibition World Travel Market 2009, at which Russian regions such as Kaliningrad Oblast, Buryatia, and Chukotka shared a single booth, and Ivanovo Oblast had a stand-alone presentation. He said, “The various regions are ready to show off their tourist attractions, and rightly so”.

 17 November 2009

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/caricature/20091117/194112070.html