The Russian News & Information Agency RIA Novosti is launching an interactive multimedia portal, RIAN.Tourism (www.travel.rian.ru).

Travelers and tourists, tourism professionals and everyone who loves to get interesting information from all corners of the world will find tourism news and photographs, exclusive videos and a multitude of interesting travel sketches by our foreign correspondents on this site.

“RIAN.Tourism is an easy-to-read online magazine offering well balanced content,” said Yelena Slinko, deputy head of Integrated News Department.

“The resource is designed for everyday use. It offers high-quality information covering diverse aspects of different countries and users will soon be able to plan their holidays on it. There will also be a ticket and hotel booking function, alongside a wide range of other tourism services,” she said. “In addition, it will have interactive travel maps, a last-minute travel offers aggregator, and a database of tour operators’ latest offers.”

The “Do You Know?” section contains interesting facts, quizzes and competitions offering valuable prizes. This, in addition to opinion pieces and a host of other gripping features, will ensure that using the RIAN.Tourism portal really feels like an adventure.

Alongside RIAN.Tourism, we will launch the Pioneers competition (http://travel.rian.ru/contest_1/) with an exciting Indian adventure as the top prize.

One of the portal’s great advantages is its variety of text and multimedia formats. You can use an animated map to discover interesting information and the latest news about the country of your choice, and then there is the highly attractive multimedia portfolio. It will publish both professional and amateur travel photos from destinations across the planet, video you will want to watch again and again, and infographics you can take along with you on your travels as handy instructions on what to do, or what not to do, in all sorts of situations.

“One of the key aspects of RIAN.Tourism is that the project is really tuned in with our users’ needs,” said Yuri Shchegolkov, head of the RIAN.Tourism department. “We will gladly share our experience with you, and even professional travelers will find interesting facts on our portal.”

This is why he thinks the Practicum section is the most important part of the portal (www.travel.rian.ru/practical/). There you will find the most important and thoroughly verified information on how to save money on air tickets, how to keep your kids entertained on a long flight, who to blame for bad holidays, and many other things that users really need.

The project is just getting off the ground, but it is expected to become the main database for information about foreign and inbound tourism and domestic travel. RIAN.Tourism will also focus on the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) segment of tourism, comprising business tourism news, health tourism, the hotel and restaurant businesses, sports tourism, hunting and fishing, as well as Russia’s main tourist attractions. 

RIAN.Tourism offers you a fresh look at our planet and a chance to become the first to tell everyone about your discoveries by submitting your very own travel accounts and thus joining the group of regular RIAN.Tourism authors.