Excursion Activity As A Way To Attract Tourists To The Region

Abstract

The article highlights the organization of excursions for foreign tourists. The important organizational and methodological aspects are analyzed: taking into account the cognitive interests of the target audience, the technology of work on the highway, the features of choosing display objects, and their competent layout. The history of the development of excursion business in Russia is considered. The requirements are listed for the guide who is traveling with foreign guests, as well as for the guide who organizes out-of-town excursions. Also, the results of monitoring of excursions for foreign tourists in the region are given in the article. In this context, excursion service is considered as a significant additional service and method of increasing consumer loyalty, as well as a way to popularize the advantages of Ufa in the eyes of city guests. Thus, it was concluded that the development of out-of-town excursions for foreign tourists requires the guide to represent the cognitive preferences of the target audience, the ability to present information correctly and interesting and also to select travel information based not only on the view from the excursion bus window, but also thanks to the knowledge of the area, its features and historical facts associated with it.

Keywords: Out-of-town excursionforeign touristsplanning excursions

Introduction

The development of regional tourism is seen as a way to attract investment, generate additional income, increase jobs, expand the share of services. Excursions can occupy a significant niche in the tourism sector of Ufa and the Republic of Bashkortostan as a whole.

Problem Statement

The article considers the problem of taking into account the individual characteristics of guests in the preparation and conduct of excursions, a system for selecting excursion objects for making tours for foreign guests.

Research Questions

When writing the work, general scientific research methods of analysis, observation, description, description, comparison, generalization, induction and deduction were used.

Purpose of the Study

Identification of tourism development opportunities in the Republic of Bashkortostan through excursion activities. Using theoretical, practical and retrospective forms

Research Methods

When writing the work, general scientific research methods of analysis, observation, description, description, comparison, generalization, induction and deduction were used

Findings

In the second half of the XVIII century in Russian pedagogical literature, the first statements about school excursions appear. This idea has become very popular. She found her reflection even in the school charters (XVIII - XIX centuries). Since that time, one can trace the emergence of excursion business for schoolchildren in Russia. In 1885, it was decided to create the first tourist company in Russia, "Enterprise for public travel in all directions of the world" Lipson ( Rostovskaya & Vitkovskaya, 2015).

Currently, there are disputes about the appearance in Russian of the term “excursion”. Zueva ( 2015) describes in her work that during the reign of Empress Catherine II, the “Charter of the Public Schools of the Russian Empire” was compiled in 1976, which included recommendations by prominent scientists on the use of the visual method in teaching, which was more like walking in nature.

In the 19th century, the creative and cultural intelligentsia, following the example of Western European travelers, began to organize specialized tourist and excursion societies, which contributed to a deeper study of domestic and world cultural experience, nature and history. Gunji´c (2017) emphasizes the special role of such communities in the development of not only enlightenment, but also in the development of society and the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage.

Government bodies at different stages of historical development had a different attitude to the role of excursion activities, from complete misunderstanding and rejection, to the absolute recognition of effectiveness and efficiency in the educational process. Khisamutdinova and Khairetdinova ( 2017) in their work “The history of forming the concept “the excursion”: some aspects of the historiography of the issue” write that since 1917, excursions have been an effective means of class education and propaganda of socialist ideas.

It is difficult to overestimate the modern attitude to excursion activities. It is used at all stages of development of both the personality of each person, and the educational processes in general ( Ishbulatov et al., 2019). The development of tourist and excursion activities is associated mainly with the processes of globalization, the development of relations between countries, and the availability of information ( Ishbulatov & Musina, 2017).

The priority trend of today's excursion market is the distribution of popular, vibrant and exciting excursion offers. In the conditions of the modern market, even familiar, proven over the years excursions have undergone rebranding. For a modern employee of the field of excursion, it is first of all important to understand what target group each individual excursion has, what kind of excursion it is in nature - thematic or overview, what funds will be required for its organization and conduct ( Spenceley & Snyman, 2017). In order for all the above parameters to be determined correctly, it is necessary to have information about the main characteristics of the tour, such as:

  • method of movement of the excursion group - transport or pedestrian;

  • duration of the tour;

  • availability of travel information;

  • display and storytelling techniques at each facility ( Omerzel, 2016).

Indication of such data can save the agent, tour operator and the consumer from the need to clarify details. Promotional offers describe, as a rule, those objects that can be visited as part of this excursion tour. Possession of information about the cultural and historical potential of the Russian Federation provides an employee of a travel agency with the opportunity to objectively assess how completely certain attractions are identified and included in the excursion route: monuments of history, culture, nature. Also, the authors Khamadeeva and Kutusheva ( 2019) discovered that the possession of such information provides the opportunity to adjust existing routes. The most important specific aspect of excursion activities is the ability to enter into communications with a wide variety of tourist groups. For travelers from abroad, as far as possible, they should include in the program of the excursion tour a variety of information or objects that are somehow related to the history of their state ( Weiler & Black, 2015).

In addition to Russian-speaking guests, the number of foreigners visiting our city is increasing every year. In the market of excursion services in Ufa, there are a large number of excursions conducted in foreign languages (English, French, German). In this chapter, we considered travel agencies, tour agencies and other organizations engaged in sightseeing activities in Ufa.

Excursion bureau "Travels" conducts a sightseeing tours: "City over the White River", "Ufa - the capital of Bashkortostan" etc. The main objects of the tour, its cost and duration are reflected in Appendix 1. Both sightseeing and thematic tours are conducted in Russian and English. At the request of tourists, you can choose another foreign language (English, French, German).

The domestic tourism agency “RIVA” offers sightseeing and thematic tours in Ufa, an advantage in Russian, there is also one sightseeing tour in English, which includes the main attractions of Ufa.

The ‘Welcome to Ural’ company for the reception and servicing of Russian and foreign tourists in the Urals also offers a number of excursions. In the arsenal of this company there are sightseeing tours in both Russian and English, including excursions for individual tourists.

Having analyzed the excursion activities in Ufa, it is worth noting that the city market has a small number of excursion offers for foreign tourists. The cost of excursions in English is higher than in Russian, and these are mainly sightseeing tours that affect all the same objects of the show as for Russian-speaking tourists and residents of Ufa.

Sightseeing tours of various travel agencies and tour agencies of the city of Ufa affect the same objects of display, and basically, are similar.

Below are the main attractions that are popular:

  • Friendship Monument;

  • October Revolution Street: Gutman Plant, the tower of the Police Unit;

  • House of the Demidovs, Spassky Church, police station No. 1, Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Akmulla, monument to M. Akmulla;

Upper trading area (walking tour: V.I. Lenin square, Ministry of Internal Affairs building, Main Post Office, Blokhin printing house, Aeroflot representative office building, fountain on Vekhnetorgovaya square, Gostiny dvor, Agidel hotel, Nesterov manor place, monument to folk composer Z. Ismagilov, monument to Felor Chaliapin, concert hall of the Academy of Arts of the Republic of Belarus, Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theater, quarter on A. Nagarev);

  • Street A.S. Pushkin: monument to S.T. Aksakov, BSMU, USATU, monument to A.S. Pushkin, Research Institute of Eye Diseases;

  • Karl Marx Street, Kosterin’s House, Museum of Archeology and Ethnography;

  • Z. Validi Street: BSU;

  • Ufa Telecentre;

  • Congress Hall;

  • Salavat Yulaev Square;

  • Monument to Salavat Yulaev;

  • Z. Validi Street: Dynamo Stadium, Bashkir State Drama Theater named after M. Gafuri, A. Matrosov Garden;

  • Sovetskaya Street: Kurultay;

  • Government House;

  • Sofyushkina alley;

  • Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus;

  • Hospital of war veterans;

  • Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims;

  • The first cathedral mosque;

  • Garden of Salavat Yulaev;

  • Memorial House-Museum of the Aksakovs;

  • archaeological site of Ufa 2;

  • Salavat Yulaev Avenue, 50 years of the USSR, October Avenue: Russian Drama Theater;

  • City Hall of Ufa;

  • City Palace of Culture;

  • Kalinin park;

  • Monument to the grieving mother;

  • Ufa Petroleum University;

  • Victory Park, Lala Tulip Mosque;

  • Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Firstly, the majority of excursion tours are focused on Russian-speaking guests. Guided tours in foreign languages ​​are also offered, but not there are only few of them. The monitoring showed that sightseeing tours include the same objects, which are the main features. They attract Russian tourists, but do not always interest the foreigners.

Foreigners prefer exclusively organized leisure. They are used to trust their leisure time to professionals and are always ready to pay for a good service and an interesting excursion program. Zaripova ( 2015a) concluded that in order to choose the optimal excursion route guide should take into account the characteristics of the guests of a particular country, the main task is to study the needs of foreign tourists.

These objects are worthy of the attention of sightseers, but to conduct sightseeing tours in Ufa for foreign tourists who come for business purposes, it is necessary to include sights of interest for this particular segment of the guests in the tour.

Tourists and visitors to the SCO and BRICS summits are tourists for business purposes, and the basis of a business trip is a rich program of meetings and events that are planned in advance. Therefore, the excursion component is not the main goal of this segment of guests. Our goal in this case is not to try to create an excursion product that will be replete with numbers, dates and detailed historical facts, but to show business guests the favourable economic condition of the city, its investment attractiveness and modernity.

Guides often make some mistakes when making their city tour in the same way as for representatives of their own, Russian culture. For the same reason, excursions of the Russian-speaking guide, which must be translated into English, are not always successful for the guests of another countries. For example, foreign citizens have a different attitude to the places associated with the feat of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War or with the lives of people, the fame of which was widely spread in our republic or even in Russia, but not abroad.

An ordinary foreign tourist is not particularly interested in visiting the monuments of people known only in our country. Foreign guests are not very interested in house-museums of writers, and other personalities who certainly contributed to the development of the city and the history of Ufa, but not widely known outside it. But the Americans - citizens of a country with young architecture - are interested in our historical buildings - architectural monuments. It is difficult to surprise foreigners with city museums, but they will be interested in the original expositions of national museums. It was investigated in the works of Zaripova ( 2015b) about making city tours for foreigners.

Chistyakova ( 2015) notes that the guide need to know in advance from what country the tourists came from, and take this into account during making the excursion route. Even among English-speaking tourists, there is a big difference. With tourists from other countries, for example, Asian countries (Hong Kong, Singapore), it is necessary to lay more time on stops, as they really like to be photographed. Most of them do not like dishes of Russian cuisine and are ask to order dinners in Asian restaurants. Also, such kind of tourists are very demanding on air temperature in the bus. They ask to make it colder than usual for Russians.

Americans rarely display negative emotions. They need to communicate a lot and engage in dialogue, taking into account the difference in the perception of history in the United States and Russia. This is more about the contribution to the results of world wars. The history in Russia and the USA is interpreted differently. In this case, the guide must be able to tactfully avoid contentious issues.

Khairetdinova and Khairetdinova ( 2016) in their work about the out-of-town excursions discovered that when working with tourists from the UK, the guide should be careful with the Scots, Irish and Welsh, given their national identity.

Conclusion

Note that outside the city of Ufa there are many objects that may be of interest to guests of the capital, including foreign ones. It is known that the republic and outside the capital have something to offer tourists for familiarization. Many works have been written on natural, cultural and historical values, films have been made, both documentary and feature. Often, foreign guests are not limited to visiting only the city and are interested in out-of-town excursions, which have a lot of interesting objects the region is proud of ( Kim et al., 2019). Many authors study our region in their works. Lebedev et al. ( 2016) came into conclusion that the Republic of Bashkortostan is a wonderful combination of picturesque mountains, clear lakes and rivers, green forests, impressive caves, historical and cultural monuments and other attractions. Moreover, some experience of excursion work suggests that target groups are more interested in out-of-town objects than in the the city landscape ( Khairetdinova & Khairetdinova, 2015).

Thus, the city of Ufa and the Republic of Bashkortostan have significant potential for the development of excursion activities to attract the foreign tourists. Especially considering the fact that in recent years the city has become a venue for major of Russian and international events.

However, this requires a more thorough approach to the organization of tours for foreign guests, taking into account their cognitive, service and other requests.

References

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About this article

Publication Date

21 October 2020

eBook ISBN

978-1-80296-089-1

Publisher

European Publisher

Volume

90

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Edition Number

1st Edition

Pages

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Subjects

Economics, social trends, sustainability, modern society, behavioural sciences, education

Cite this article as:

Veselova, D. F., Hamadeeva, Z. A., & Khisamutdinova, A. F. (2020). Excursion Activity As A Way To Attract Tourists To The Region. In I. V. Kovalev, A. A. Voroshilova, G. Herwig, U. Umbetov, A. S. Budagov, & Y. Y. Bocharova (Eds.), Economic and Social Trends for Sustainability of Modern Society (ICEST 2020), vol 90. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 584-590). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.10.03.66