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 With about 12 percent of St. Petersburg’s working population occupied in the city’s tourism industry, which brought 115 billion rubles ($3.6 billion) into the city’s budget last year, City Hall is attempting to overcome remaining obstacles and develop the industry further.
According to the UN, the tourism sector is snapping on the heels of the energy and military-industrial spheres in terms of the most profitable and fast-developing sectors of the global economy, and St. Petersburg is doing its best to catch up, say representatives of the northwest branch of the Russian Tourism Industry Union.
To be labeled a tourism capital, a city has to have more people coming in than people permanently living in the city. There are currently about 5 million residents in St. Petersburg, and about 5.5 million people visited the city in 2011.
“Paris, for instance, welcomes 16 times more visitors than its current population, and certainly can be called a tourist capital,” said Tatyana Gavrilova, director of the northwest branch of the Russian Tourism Industry Union. “At this rate, St. Petersburg is still just a tourist destination, but until last year even Moscow couldn’t compete with us,” she said. |
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SHADOW GAME
FOR SPT
A view of the Griboyedev Canal with the Church on the Spilled Blood in the distance. After several days of chilly, autumnal weather, the sun has
returned for the city’s rush of summer tourists. The city is vying for the status of ‘tourist capital.’ 5.5 million people visited in 2011. |
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Mariinsky II, the second stage of the world-famous Mariinsky Theater, will receive its first spectators in May 2013, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky promised this week after a meeting with the company’s artistic director, Valery Gergiev.
“Russia will be getting the best theater building in the world,” Medinsky declared.
Earlier this year, the official made some sobering statements about the project, revealing Medinsky’s disappointment in the slow pace of the construction.
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St. Petersburg ombudsman Alexander Shishlov showed interest in the high-profile trial of 12 opposition activists accused of organizing and participating in “extremist activities of a banned organization,” which was attended by his assistant, Andrei Tolmachyov, for the first time last week.
Defense and rights organizations believe that the criminal prosecution of the activists was launched on purely political grounds, without any actual crime having been committed.
On Friday, the judge summoned a technical specialist and an investigator to attend the next court session after the defense motioned to exclude half of the secret video surveillance recordings from the case. |
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 The Vegan Club is inviting volunteers to mark International Homeless Animals’ Day with a day of activities organized to help local animal shelters on Sunday, Aug. |
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The peripeties surrounding the crisis-stricken Lenfilm film studio have not come to an end. Throughout the month of August, the legendary studio has faced a series of legal proceedings, while its future is to be determined in September.
On Aug. 6, the studio was taken to court for a 1.38-million-ruble ($43,500) debt it owes to the St. |
All photos from issue.
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 KAZAN — Authorities spoke of a creepy cult living in an “eight-level ant house” dug deep into the ground, where children were kept in unheated cells and starved of daylight. A visit to the compound suggests a more ordinary reality.
A brief visit inside the compound, which provided shocking headlines around the world when police raided it and seized the children, revealed none of the elaborate underground design described by prosecutors. |
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MOSCOW — A magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit waters off Russia’s Pacific island of Sakhalin on Tuesday inflicted no casualties or damage, Russian officials said. |
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MOSCOW — Russians are increasingly aware of the Orthodox Church’s influence on the political life of the country, but are attaching less importance to its teachings, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
Exactly half of those consulted by the state-run VTsIOM pollster said they felt the church’s influence in domestic politics, a six-percent rise over the 2010 figure. |
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MOSCOW — In a major triumph for the U.S.-Russia reset, the two countries will introduce a simplified visa regime that includes three-year visas starting from next month. |
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LONDON — Shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus became the first athlete to be stripped of a medal at the London Olympics after her gold was withdrawn Monday for doping.
Valerie Adams of New Zealand was awarded the gold, and Yevgenia Kolodko of Russia was bumped up to silver. Fourth-place finisher Gong Lijiao of China was moved up to bronze. |
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 The London Games have gone down in history as the most politically correct Olympics ever. Moreover, it was political correctness in its worst form — on the verge of fascism.
First, the leadership of the Greek Olympic Committee removed triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou from the games for the following joke she made on Twitter: “With so many Africans in Greece … the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!”
The joke is certainly offensive, but ruining someone’s life over this matter — someone who has spent her whole life preparing for this competition — is pure fascism. |
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United Russia has broken a record for the number of bills proposed during the summer recess. Usually we don’t hear a word from deputies during the entire month of August. |
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 Madonna made a graphic statement in defense of Pussy Riot at her Moscow concert last week — complete with the name of the imprisoned feminist group written on her bare back. Her speech on gay rights in St. Petersburg on Thursday however, came out somewhat vague and flat. |
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An international solidarity event to show support for Pussy Riot — the three women that have been imprisoned for performing an anti-Putin “punk prayer” — will be held around the world on Friday, Aug. |
 A naked woman in a light flesh tone leans back, her hand descending between her legs. This picture, captioned “Dream,” is one of many on show at the “Dedicated to Bloom” exhibition, which opened at the Nabokov Museum on Aug. 13. It displays litographic works by Mikhail Karasik, who drew inspiration from James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. |
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Ìîñêâè÷: Muscovite
The other day I was talking to an acquaintance that had moved to Moscow from Voronezh. I wanted to find out where he was born. My question started out fine: Âû êîðåííîé— (Are you a native —). |
 Late last week, Madonna gave her support for the members of Pussy Riot on trial by speaking at her concert, pulling on a balaclava and revealing the words Pussy Riot written on her back.
Wearing just a black bra, Madonna writhed to Like a Virgin in a tribute that seemed to fit her image perfectly, even if, as a colleague pointed out, “Like a Prayer” would have been even better. |
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Retro relaxation
Categorizing Warszawa, a three-month-old self-titled “buffet” in the city center, is no easy task, (though it’s name can offer guidance) as it is unlike any other place in the city. |
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 Running a contemporary classical music center in Russia may seem an unlikely occupation for a Persian composer brought up in the traditional and extremely intricate Oriental musical culture. This, however, has been the exact mission of 33-year-old Tehran-born composer Mehdi Hosseini for the past 10 years.
Hosseini arrived in town in 2002 to study at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory under composer Sergei Slonimsky and music historian Tatyana Bershadskaya, making Russia’s northern capital his second home. |
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 MURMANSK — With their strangely elegant keel-less black hulls supporting the bulky but streamlined superstructure, there is something ineffably spine-tingling about standing next to a nuclear-powered icebreaker. |
Temp: -1°C clear 
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