Tourism territory

40 minutes with splashes and a breeze on a ferry, and you find yourself as if on the sea coast. Belov Island, or Upper. If in the evening to go to the western steep coast, it will be seen how the sun will sit right into the water in a matter of minutes. All night you can sit around the fire, the benefit of insects drives away a pleasant breeze, and closer to morning you need to go through a sleeping village on the east coast of the island. On the beach. And from him to watch how the day is born. At first, a bright point will suddenly appear on the horizon, and after a minute the sun will rise entirely. Hello, a new day!

The island of Belova is a popular place to relax. In the summer, the Polesie is going there, and it goes to each flight, filled with people. There are a great many who want to join nature. Naturally, the nature of the island and residents suffer from such "wild" tourism. But it can be turned into a beautiful place to relax, while observing the environmental balance, and make some profit.

In mid-July, a group of young ecologists-students of the Geographical Faculty of St. Petersburg State University landed here. Students and students from Pskov also participated in the expedition. The purpose of the trip is to look at Belov Island as a potential zone of ecological tourism and create a program for opening such a zone.

Environmental, or stable, is understood to mean tourism that does not cause damage to nature. Imagine, I would like to settle down with a tent for an overnight stay in the place where someone else was resting a few days ago? It is unlikely. Heaps of garbage and old bonfires do not add beauty.

Ecological tourism solves these problems. A similar form of recreation, which was previously talked by the Pskov Province, is one of the most popular in Europe, where there are very few places to relax in nature. And, accordingly, ecotourism is a promising area for the economy of the Pskov region. The island of Belova is a convenient object for creating an environmental tourism base. The fact is that the successful organization of such a place requires active involvement of the local population. It is easier to do here, because only a few dozen local residents live on the island. But on the other hand, it cannot be said that this process will go easily, since the islanders already have a rather strong negative attitude towards “wild” tourists and it will be difficult to change it. Indeed, more than fifty bonfires were discovered on the territory of the island, and several hundred kilograms of garbage were collected. But, according to the residents, before the island was more polluted. During the Soviet Union, a tourist base of 200 people was located on the island, now the flow of vacationers has become much smaller.

According to the project created by ecologists, regular cleaning of the territory is supposed to be on the island, garbage containers will be installed. It is planned to create tourist booklets and maps with a description of local natural and historical monuments that will be issued to the coming. A natural question arises: where does the money come from? According to the plan, it is supposed to charge a moderate fee from coming tourists. Ecologists conducted several interviews-interviews with local residents and visiting tourists. According to their results, we can conclude a positive attitude towards the opening of the environmental tourism zone in both those and others.

In general, now the island is a place for two recreation options at once. The first is in the forest, in the field, on the shore of the lake with a tent; The second is for those who love life calmer - in the village. For the last option, in the program for creating an environmental tourism zone there is a point that local residents for tourists will offer rooms in their homes. Thus, residents will receive direct profit from tourists, in addition to delivering boats for rental and sale of products.

There is also a question about transporting tourists to the island. Now this is a clear problem with this: the Polesie ferry goes to the island only four days a week, two flights a day. As a result, passengers should take the line for a long time for the ship in order to rush to the assault on the free places of the Polesie at the right time. From this, the impression of a trip to the island to deteriorate a little at the very beginning of the journey.

Despite some disadvantages, the island of Belova is a wonderful place to relax. Let's hope that the island’s development plan created by ecologists will not remain only the form of offset of students in summer practice, but it will really be applied in life, benefiting both tourists, residents, and the island itself. The camp of ecologists has already been visited by representatives of the authorities. Then, you look, behind the island and the Big Earth will reach. And let students come again. It is easier to solve difficult problems together.

Alexander Matrunich.