The government of the Chelyabinsk region intends to make the traditionally industrial territory a resort and tourist center of Russia as part of the large-scale integrated development strategy of the region.
"Tourism may become an anchor project for the development of many areas, - Governor Boris Dubrovsky said. - The potential of this area is used insufficiently or not used at all. According to last year's calculations, the tourism sector added nine billion rubles to the budget of the region. This is clearly not enough, given the natural, cultural and historical potential of the Southern Urals."
"One needs to address most basic problems in the tourism sector - the arrangement of infrastructure, the formation of competitive tourist product, which will be in demand among consumers. Of course, it requires support from authorities to promote everything at trade shows and in the media, Yuri Barzykin, first vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, chairman of the committee for tourist entrepreneurship at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Russia, told Pravda.Ru. - It's wonderful that the Chelyabinsk region is developing its regional projects. One needs to proceed to the federal level to attract investment from business circles, regional and federal authorities. Then we can get a good product."
The Chelyabinsk region has indeed a lot to attract tourists with. The famous archaeological complex "Arkaim" (the city from III-II millennium BC), the island of Faith, Tamerlane Tower, fortresses, the Demidovs Manor, unique temples, a cave complex, old factories, quarries and even a French chateau. All these objects can be combined into an interesting chain of tourist routes. There are also beautiful lakes in the region, not to mention the Chelyabinsk meteorite that made the region famous worldwide. All this makes the South Urals attractive for travel and leisure. One of the measures to promote the heritage of the region is to submit an application to UNESCO to obtain the status of cultural heritage for objects of the Southern Urals.