Elena Kozak called domestic tourism the most important component of patriotism 
Winner of the # WEVMESTE prize of the track “Volunteers and NGOs” in the nomination “Comfortable city” Elena Kozak spoke about the development of domestic tourism in Russia and that, in her opinion, the development of this direction is the most important component of patriotism. This area is also dedicated to her project “Hospitality Volunteers – Welcome Volunteers”, which has existed since 2019.
This is a volunteer initiative to increase the tourist attractiveness of territories, for useful and positive travel, and develop traditions of hospitality by volunteers and the local community … Volunteers organize excursions, quests for city guests and young townspeople, create media content, and do landscaping. The project already exists in 18 Russian regions.
“The Hospitality Volunteers project has started in the Caucasus. And initially our mission was to update the brand “Caucasian Hospitality”. However, very quickly we realized that this topic is close and relevant for all regions of Russia and all countries of the world. Our project touches upon basic human values, such as the desire to help others and the values of hospitality. Therefore, other regions began to adopt our experience. In the pre-pandemic period, three countries managed to join us – Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Iran. And today there will be up to 1 thousand hospitality volunteers. I am sure that today's victory will be a new milestone in the development of volunteering in our country, “Kozak said.
She also told how the project team plans to dispose of the grant.
“The grant won will help make it easier for volunteers to join our movement. Thanks to the support received, we will introduce a chatbot system, making it easier for volunteers to join our movement. We also hope to strengthen international cooperation, as more than 30 countries have already volunteered to take part in this volunteer initiative. We also hope that additional resources will help contribute to the development of domestic tourism. Even today, at the forum's discussion platforms, the participants said that they themselves do not fully understand what kind of unique country we live in. We want to convey information about this to all age groups in various parts of the country, so that they would like to travel around Russia. And we will try to make their travels as atmospheric as possible, ”she said.
Kozak also thanked everyone for whom the project won the #WEEMEST award.
“ First of all, I want to thank my family for the fact that they tolerate me, understand, support me. I disappear in volunteer projects, and they rarely see me, but they always support me. And I know that I have a reliable strong rear. I also want to thank the team that I have in different cities of Russia, but is inspired by one idea – to develop domestic tourism. I would like to thank the Association of Volunteer Centers. And it's very cool that our country pays great attention to the development of tourism, because this is an important component of patriotism. And the best way to get to know her is to be, see, touch, be inspired by new impressions. Since this year, we have been actively developing the direction of Arctic and Far Eastern tourism. Northern romance is a new direction that we are implementing in a number of our initiatives, ”she said.