Taras Fomchenkov
for EcoToutism Expert 
A Family Vacations standard has been developed in Russia that standardizes requirements for parking lots, retail outlets, public toilets, and other infrastructure facilities. This was stated by Yulia Mikhalyova, deputy head of Russia’s Quality System (Roskachestvo), an autonomous non-profit organization, at the State Duma parliamentary hearings on family tourism held at the end of September.
It is worth noting that more than half of the people in the survey - 52 percent - want to travel with their families, according to Russia’s Quality System organization. So far, the figures are far from this one because just about 30 percent of tourists regularly go on family trips.
Improving infrastructure facilities is among the serious tasks to be solved to make the standard really efficient. That is why the rules and regulations developed include the requirements for organizing parking lots at recreational areas, retail outlets, and product mix they offer. For example, not only essential goods, but also diapers, baby food should be sold in these shops, swaddling tables and child washbasins should be provided in public toilets. It is also necessary to change the requirements for the range of food, entertainment services designed for children. As for hotel accommodation, it’s necessary to increase the number of traveling families and increase the number of family rooms in hotels up to 50 percent of the total number of hotel rooms. At the same time, protective mechanisms should be installed on windows, sockets, furniture, stairs, etc. “Together with the Ministry of Economic Development, the decision was taken that in the first months, the standard would be used as a voluntary certification system. Later on, it will get the status of GOST, a national standard,” added the deputy head of Russia’s Quality System organization.
The idea of developing the family tourism has been discussed at the Ministry of Economic Development for a long time, recalled Roman Arseniy, head of the Department of Tourism and Hotel Business at the Russian International Academy for Tourism, an expert on hotel classification, in his comment for EcoTourism EXPERT.
“About 30 percent of travelers go on vacations with children. Indeed, not all accommodation facilities offer conditions for families. As for the expenses for family traveling, sometimes, families can hardly afford going on vacations together. Everyone knows the positive role of tourism, it gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the local culture, history, customs and traditions. Tourism educates travelers and broaden their horizons. Obviously, children who have visited many cities and attractions and have been to the seaside, get to know much more and study with greater interest, they are eager to know more about life, peoples and the planet than they learn at school. People need to travel! Therefore, appropriate conditions should be provided for family traveling, such vacations must be made more affordable and better organized,” he noted.
Roman Arseniy is of an opinion that it is necessary to provide a whole range of measures to promote the development of family tourism. It’s necessary to think about pricing (offer special family rates for transport, accommodation, food, museums, etc.), provide special infrastructure facilities and service conditions at hotels. The expert emphasizes it is necessary to approve the concept and mechanisms of family tourism at the legislative level.
“The standard has not yet been presented to the general public. At first, it will be used within the framework of the voluntary certification system, and a little later, it will be formalized as a national standard. At the same time, the introduction of an official concept of a ‘family tourism’ will certainly make adjustments to various regulatory documents in the tourism and hospitality sector, including the regulation on the classification of hotels, which already includes the concept of a family room, but the requirements for family rooms should be worked out in detail,” the expert summarizes.
