11/08/2019 16:35

Looking For Exoticism

[IMG=19084-4733] Will Moscow oceanquarium stimulate the demand for Russia? The construction of oceanquarium which started in Moscow several years ago will be finished in 2007, reported Trud newspaper on February 15th. The similar projects are planned for St.Petersburg and Vladivostok but the one in Moscow is expected to become the best not only in Russia but in Eastern Europe. Except oceanquarium, a three-level parking, a forest with tropical trees and a beach, the world’s longest underwater tunnel, a subaqueous theater, a restaurant, a conference hall, a theme park, a five-storied 3* hotel and even a subaqueous Registry Office are planned to be built in the trading center near Poklonnaya Gora. At the moment there are more than a hundred oceanquariums in the world: 21 of them are in Japan, 15 – in England, 13 in the USA, 8 – in Canada, 6 – in Australia, 5- in Germany, 5 – in China and 3 – in India. The largest oceanquariums are AquaDom in Berlin, Oceanographic in Valencia and the one in Dalian (China). Experts interviewed by a BANKO correspondent do not doubt the popularity of Moscow oceanquarium. However, they do not think the project will stimulate the development of inbound tourism. Sergey Romashkin, General Director of Dolphin Travel Company, commented on the project as follows: ‘Moscow and St. Petersburg have their own ‘tourism’ images which do not involve entertainment of such kind. As for Vladivostok, I doubt that those who would like to see the underwater world would prefer the new oceanquarium to the well-known one in the neighboring Japan’. Andrey Vlasov, Vice-President of Intourist in the sphere of tourism agrees: ‘Such complexes will be popular amongst Russian people. Foreign tourists are attracted by different kind of sites; especially oceanquariums is not something new for them’.