Cruise tourism to be promoted on Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea will develop cruise tourism, states the agreement on cooperation signed by the Governments of the Astrakhan Region and Ingushetia with the Russian Federal Tourism Agency ("Rosturism").

"I think that in the near future we'll launch a cruise route across the Caspian Sea. Besides, we plan to hold a number of major events, including a Food Festival," said Alexander Radskov, the "Rosturism" boss.

The agreement on cooperation was signed on December 16 within the first international conference on tourism development in the Caspian region, held in Astrakhan.

"We see our development vector in uniting our efforts around the beauty of the Caspian region. We started with brilliant opportunities of our neighbours – Ingushetia, Dagestan and Stavropol Territory. Now, we are entering active cooperation with Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, where tourist centres on the Caspian shore are being actively developed," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Alexander Zhilkin, Governor of the Astrakhan Region, as saying.

In his turn, the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has noted that today 70 percent of the Russian population does not know how to rest and go on trips at least once a year. He also assured that spending time in Ingushetia is safe for visitors, the "Interfax" reports.