Table of contents:
- Intourist posters and slogans: what they promised to foreign travelers in the USSR
- What criteria were used to select the guides
- What places did foreign citizens visit in the USSR
- How foreigners spoke about the Soviet service
- International camp to strengthen the ideology of Soviet youth
Video: How tourists were attracted to the USSR, and why foreigners were unhappy with the trip
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Contrary to some misconceptions, the USSR was not a closed country. Foreigners could visit the country as part of a creative team or come to conferences at the invitation of Soviet colleagues. But the most common reason for visiting the Land of the Soviets was tourist trips. With the aim of developing commercial tourism in the USSR and attracting foreign currency, the Intourist company was established in 1929, which received a monopoly on escorting and servicing all foreign guests.
Intourist posters and slogans: what they promised to foreign travelers in the USSR
Intourist branches were opened in 17 countries abroad and in 33 cities of the USSR, which fully served foreign citizens wishing to visit Russia: they organized tours, made routes, developed guidebooks and colloquial dictionaries.
The main task of Intourist was to create a tourist brand from the Soviet Union. Visitors from abroad were lured with pretentious slogans: "This is not just a trip, this is a trip to a new world." And people who wanted to see with their own eyes how socialism was being built began to actively visit the USSR since the late 1920s. The first tourists to the Land of the Soviets were public figures and representatives of the creative intelligentsia.
To create advertising posters "Intourist" attracted famous Soviet artists who were supposed to show that the Soviet Union is a developed country of "victorious socialism", and it has something to surprise its guests.
Foreign citizens were offered to visit interesting places in Moscow and Leningrad, ride the Trans-Siberian express train, or take a cruise along the Volga and the Black Sea.
Active attempts were made to promote the "Soviet Riviera" - the resorts of the Black Sea coast from Crimea to Adjara. The Black Sea region was positioned as an ideal place for treatment and recreation against the backdrop of picturesque mountain landscapes and a subtropical climate.
What criteria were used to select the guides
Colorful posters of Intourist demonstrated the variety of interesting places, traditions and cultures in the USSR. But it was possible to travel around the country only under the strict supervision of guides and translators, who showed tourists the achievements of the socialist state.
The guide had to be able to competently talk about the advantages of socialism and politically correctly answer sharp questions about Soviet life. To help the guides, a card index was compiled, which listed the most provocative questions and templates for answering them.
For example, to the question of a foreign tourist "Why can't you come to us?" the guide had to answer in this way: “We have such a big country! Life is not enough for me to see it all, especially not enough for abroad."
The guides ensured strict adherence to the route, cut off contacts between tourists and ordinary Soviet citizens, and forbade photographing strategically important objects - factories, factories, bridges and airfields.
The position of a guide was considered one of the most prestigious and well-paid at that time. Employees were carefully selected, testing them for knowledge of foreign languages, political correctness and literacy. Higher education was not a fundamentally important factor, since until 1935 there were no universities with such a specialty in the USSR.
What places did foreign citizens visit in the USSR
As a rule, the trip began in Moscow or Leningrad, where sightseeing tours were conducted to foreigners. The further route depended on the voucher. In the summer, routes along the Black Sea coast were popular. According to TASS, at the end of the 60s, the number of tourists in the resorts of the Crimea amounted to more than 4 million people, of which about 30 thousand were foreign citizens. The leaders in terms of visiting were residents of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and Italy. First of all, they tried to advertise the USSR as a center of industrialization and progress, where you can travel as you like: by land, water or air.
Cruises on the Volga were presented to foreigners as something akin to traveling along the Rhine or Main.
Trips on the Trans-Siberian Railway were especially popular with foreigners - in 12 days they crossed all of Russia from West to East.
If the tour fell in May or October, travelers were required to be taken to the demonstration.
Despite all the problems and shortcomings of the tourism industry in the USSR, Intourist still managed to form a favorable opinion of the Land of Soviets among a significant number of tourists. This result was obtained mainly due to the combination of spectacular landscapes (the nature of the Crimea, the Caucasian ridge) and places unusual for foreigners (the Arctic and Elbrus) with the demonstration of "new objects of building socialism."
How foreigners spoke about the Soviet service
The first years after the opening of Intourist, business with Soviet tourism went well, but gradually the contingent of travelers began to change. If earlier these were simple workers' delegations from states close in spirit, then over time representatives of the bourgeoisie began to come here more and more often, accustomed to high-quality service, which was not available in the USSR.
According to Intourist reports, more than 90% of foreigners were unhappy with the service. And in order to rectify the situation, in 1933 the party leaders decide to create a new tourist infrastructure. The Metropol, National, Astoria and other hotels, which still had a pre-revolutionary look, were renovated. We have updated not only the design of the hotels, but also the staff. All hotel employees received detailed instructions and training before receiving foreign guests.
In the mid-30s, the level of hotel service has grown significantly. The writer André Gide, in a book about his trip to the USSR, wrote that the Soviet hotel "Sinop" in Sukhum can be compared with the most beautiful and comfortable hotels in Europe.
Outside the hotels, things were not so rosy. For example, science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who visited the Soviet Union in 1959, was outraged by the predatory exchange rate and the excessive control of the guides: "we saw only what they wanted, heard only what they wanted us to hear."
International camp to strengthen the ideology of Soviet youth
A special direction in the development of Soviet tourism was work with student and working youth from different countries, especially from the states of the socialist camp. To this end, in 1959, a youth camp "Sputnik" was opened in Gurzuf, where Soviet and foreign citizens from 18 to 35 years old could spend a joint vacation. For vacationers, they held meetings with Soviet athletes, arranged disputes, organized hikes and excursions. The "bonfires of the world" were an obligatory item on the entertainment program.
Only “ideologically stable” youth and production leaders were allowed to rest in Sputnik. But camp staff still noted that Soviet citizens often showed apoliticality and a desire for free informal communication.
But on the territory of Russia there are majestic ancient castles, which the guides do not tell about.
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