The Local Lore Movement and the Establishment of Culture-Related Tourism in the 1920-30S in the Tatar Assr (Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic): the Historical Digression
Among the actual tasks of tourism as an important factor in the development of territories and means of cultural communication, we can highlight the need to form and support new centers of attraction for tourists, which fully applies to the Republic of Tatarstan. First of all, it concerns small historical cities with local lore museums and a strong local lore tradition. In this article, the author, based on archival materials, analyzed the main trends in the development and activation of the local lore movement in the Tatar ASSR and the determining role that it played in the early stages of the development of cultural and educational tourism in the republic in the 1920s and 1930s. The use of retrospective, problem-chronological and historical-comparative methods made it possible to analyze the archive statistical information, cause-effect relationships and general regularities of the tourism development process in the specified chronological framework. Particular attention is paid to the basic forms and directions of excursion and cultural work. In the article, specific directions of the activity of the tourist organizations characteristic for the early stage of development of tourism in the socialist state are considered. For example, mandatory excursions to industrial construction sites, plants and factories, participation of members of urban tourism organizations in agricultural work and visiting the countryside, as well as hikes aimed at search for minerals. The analysis led to the conclusion that it was the local lore societies and museums that largely created the basis and conditions for today’s development of tourism in small towns, as evidenced by the example given in the article.