Russian tourists may become more knowledgeable about the Far East cuisine in 2020: Official

Zarina Doguzova, chief of the Federal agency for tourism (Russiatourism), during online-session of the Eastern Economic Forum at the Pacific Tourism Forum. Image: official translation's page/YouTube.

MOSCOW/VLADIVOSTOK, Jun 10, 2020, Pan Pacific Agency. Two main features could promote Vladivostok: “unique nature and gastronomy, cuisine,” Zarina Doguzova, chief of the Federal agency for tourism (Russiatourism), said during online-session of the Eastern Economic Forum at the Pacific Tourism Forum, which was held today both in Moscow and Vladivostok.

“Russian Far East is not only beautiful and interesting, but also very tasty. The most delicious restaurants and the most delicious food, which I always remember for a long time, are, in addition to Moscow and St. Petersburg, of course, in the city of the Vladivostok. The best smoked halibut I’ve tried in Russia was in Vladivostok,” Zarina Doguzova said.

According to her, Russiatourism’s officials have been agreed with the Russian healthcare watchdog on quarantine endings for hotels, resorts and restaurants. The “new normal” post-quarantine rules for Russian cruises are almost agreed, she added. “In most regions of Russia, the holiday season will begin in July, smooth start and preparations will go since June. Let’s try, starting in July, to breathe tourist life into the Primorsky region and the whole Far East,” she said, referring to Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky region.

Today in the Primorsky region, as elsewhere in the country, tourist facilities have been suspended due to the pandemic. Local govt is striving to return hotels and restaurants to their main business, serving tourists, as soon as possible, Oleg Kozhemyako said. “In June, we plan to re-open cafes and restaurants with open areas and verandas. From the mid-June, we to re-open three-star and higher-class hotels. We hope that our joint efforts help us to prevent outbreaks, so, more than 1,500 recreation centers and tourist camps on the seashore will be re-open too,” the governor said.

According to him, now all owners of touristic enterprises in the Primorsky region are training personnel to start safe work after lifting the restrictions associated with the pandemic. “Most likely, this year we will have more tourists from Russia. Nevertheless, the cuisine of the Primorsky region remains attractive for tourists from China, Japan and South Korea. Of great popularity among representatives of Asia-Pacific countries tourists from Russia has Caucasian cuisine. The potential of gastronomic tourism in the region is in the use of fresh seafood, delicacies from the taiga, wonderful linden honey, which has become a separate brand, wild plants such as ginseng and eleutherococcus,” the governor said.

Zarina Doguzova said that Russiatourism together with tour operators develop affordable tours for residents of the central regions of Russia to remote regions of the country, and is also preparing “a project with foreign partners that will reveal the potential of modern Russian cuisine.”

Now the Far Eastern cuisine brand is developing under the motto “Clean energy of seafood and taiga,” Tatyana Zarechneva, project manager for the Far Eastern cuisine ‘Pacific Russia Food’, recalled. “Gastronomy development is an important contribution not only to the economy, but also to maintaining health. Far Eastern products such as lemongrass, trepang are the ‘superfoods’, that defend from many diseases. In addition, we want the Far Eastern cuisine brand to create added value to have here more than just fresh seafood,” she said.

Russian version of this article is available here.

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