TOURISTS IN RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20990, 29 September 1931, Page 11

TOURISTS IN RUSSIA.

TOTAL OF 10,000 EXPECTED.

DOUBLE LAST YEAR'S FIGURE,

STUDY AND SIGHTSEEING. Midsummer represents the height of the Soviet tourist season in Moscow and the larger ho'els in the centre of the city are crowded with English-speaking foreigners, because America easily leads in tbo number of summer visitors to Russia, with England probably second. Russia is one of the few countries, says the Moscow correspondent of the Observer, London, which have more tourists this year than was the case in 1930, and it is expected that last year's figure of 5000 tourists will be doubled during the present year. The Intourist, the Soviet State tourist organisation, had originally expected 20,000 foreigners during the present season, but the world depression has apparently cut this figure in half. The depression is also responsible for the commercial failure of the most original of this year's tourist ventures, the six weeks' cruise of the icebreaker Maligin in polar waters, with visits to Franz Josef Land. Only five foreign tourists, apart from journalists, are making this trip. One of them is General Umberto Nobile, who hopes that the voyage of the Maligin may reveal some trace cither of Amundsen or of the members of the Allesandri group of Nobile's ill-fated Arctic expedition in 1928.

Touring in Russia is much more organised than is the case in other countries. Tho casual rover in Rusisa is not unknown, but circumstances are unfavourable to him. Visas, food and hotel accommodations, transportation facilities, language difficulties —all these problems are rather more formidable in the Soviet Union than in most other countries, and are solved most easily for the organised groups which come under the auspices of the Intourist. Three Glasses oi Tourists. These groups carry out regular schedules, usually beginning with visits to art galleries, museums, factories, Soviet institutions and other places of interest in Moscow and Leningrad. The Intourist supplies trained guides and interpreters. A considerable number of tho tourists, especially those who disembark for a few days from the passenger liners which aro cruising in tho Baltic Sea, content themselves with a brief stay in tho two largest Soviet cities. Others go farther afield. A regulation long-distanco tour in Russia involves a trip down tho Volga to Stalingrad, a journey thence by rail to' Vladikavkaz, and a motor trip over tho picturesque Georgian Military Road, with its striking mountain scenery, and visits to several towns in the Caucasus and the Crimea.

Russia's tourists tend to, fall into three categories. There are groups of students, teachers, intellectuals, professional men and women, who come with varying degrees of knowledge and curiosity about the new Soviet social and economic institutions. Then there are foreigners of Russian origin, who take this opportunity of revisiting their homes and, perhaps, seeing members of their families. Finally, there is tho tourist proper, the seeker after amusement and entertainment. Some Amusing Stories. Although travel in Russia lacks some of tho comforts and conveniences of Western Europe, most of the tourists seem to feel that tho experience is well worth while, in view of the new impressions acquired. Each tourist season leaves behind its quota of amusing stories. Last year there was an American woman who, after being conducted with her party through the mausoleum where Lenin lies in state, remarked: "Who was that gentleman whom we saw in there?" And this year there was a realistically-minded tourist from the Middle West of America who, after listening to an eloquent exposition of the Five Year Plan for health, remarked: "But what are you going to do about th 6 flies in tho Grand Hotel ?"