Tiraspol, 4 May. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A landmark event has taken place today in the country's tourist industry as the first information centre has opened in Tiraspol to help tourists and local residents to learn more about the attractions of our region.
The centre has been established within the framework of cooperation between Pridnestrovie's Agency for Regional Development and the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Moldova. This is one of the projects implemented under the UNDP programme sponsored by the EU.
«One of the advantages of tourism is live communication between people, which is very important for our programme. My friends and acquaintances often ask me how to get here and if it is dangerous," said a member of the EU delegation to Moldova, Jarek Domansky.
«This centre is very important for the region. It is no secret that for years our foes have composed myths presenting our country as a black hole. Just as they say that there are bears walking along the streets in Russia, they say that we carry assault rifles in the streets, robbing [other people], that this is a stronghold of communism inhabited by a kind of Barbarians. And this centre will contribute to the development of the country's positive image," said the president's adviser, Pavel Prokudin.
Danger, black hole, smuggling — unfortunately, these are the words that are strongly associated with Pridnestrovie today especially among foreign tourists, who obtain information about our region from the websites of their countries. In fact, many of them come here in search of such extreme adventures, and some still hope to find a splinter of the Soviet Union here.
But the reality is radically different, and, as a rule, those who have ever been to our republic keep only good impressions about it, and some of them come back here more than once.
To attract here as many such tourists as possible — this is the main task of the centre and local agencies. The centre will provide tourists free of charge with information about the republic in English and Russian, help them to find accommodation, inform them about entertaining and recreation facilities and, of course, advise them where to go and what to see. After all, the country has something to offer besides the well-known KVINT winery and distillery, Bendery Fortress and Kitskany's New Neamet Monastery.
«We have a lot to offer — incoming rural tourism, agritourism, cultural tourism, craft workshops, gastronomy and wine tours. Some places in the country are interesting to visit by themselves. Among them are Goiany and Doibany villages, the Iagorlyk nature reserve, Rashkovo village as an open-air museum," says the head of the agency, Tatyana Yaskova, on the way to an impromptu wedding table. It is a clear demonstration of what cultural tourism can be in Pridnestrovie and how the diversity of our region can be presented to foreign visitors.
«We need advertising, as no one else. Out tourist complex used to be well-known during the Soviet period, but in the post-Soviet years the flow of tourists has nearly exhausted. There is no tour operator that could unite all of our ideas," said the director of Dubossary's tourist complex Dnestrovskiy Sad [Dniester Orchard], Lyudmila Tsekhovich.
«A tourist travelling to Moldova, to Pridnestrovie does not need only the Bendery Fortress, but rather a range of services. The exclusive task of your centre is to ensure the entire range of tourist services and allow [our guests] to enjoy our region for more than an hour," adds the director of the memorial complex Bendery Fortress, Alexander Svidersky.
The centre will not only provide guests with all the necessary information about the country's most interesting and striking sights but will also sell souvenirs made by local craftsmen.
«We aim to support the hotel industry; we want to publish the first catalogue of hotels. We also want to promote our region as a place which is attractive, interesting and entertaining for tourists. We have even opened our centre in a convenient for tourists location— not far from the railway and bus stations,” notes Tatyana Yaskova.
The centre is located in 135 Sovetskaya St (near the Kirov Park). For the time present it is available on Facebook only, although there are plans to create a large multilanguage web portal providing all useful information, including maps, tourist facilities, etc.
