"Intourist" department in lviv: legal basis, economic condition and excursion activity (the mid-1960s)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to determine legal basis, economic condition and excursion activity of “Intourist” department in Lviv in the mid-1960s. The research methodology is defined by an interdisciplinary approach (history, law, economics) and is based on general scientific and special scientific methods, first of all, retrospection and historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the research is that on the basis of the Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine there have been reproduced the peculiarities of “Intourist” department activity in Lviv. The acquired information makes it possible to understand the principles of the tourism sphere functioning under the conditions of a full state control and refutes the stereotypes about the high level of provision and service of foreign citizens. The Conclusions. In the mid-1960s, the Soviet leadership focused on improving the country's image among foreigners and increasing the management efficiency in the tourism sector. For this purpose, in particular, the Department of Foreign Tourism under the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR was established. The All-Union joint-stock company “Intourist” operated in its structure, the department of which operated in Lviv. In the 1960s Lviv was inferior to several Ukrainian cities in terms of the number of tourists, but the number of foreign visitors grew every year. Obviously, their number could be significantly higher in the city, but there were objective reasons that inhibited the development of tourist activity (closedness of the country, artificial restrictions on visits to Lviv due to the “uncharitable” nature of many of its residents, impossibility of deviating from the approved route without special permission, constant problems in the service, etc.). Therefore, an integral part of the activities of “Intourist” was ideological and propaganda work with foreigners, aimed at eliminating the shortcomings of a domestic nature. Excursion routes were determined in such a way as to illustrate the “greatness of socialism”. At the same time, the Department of Foreign Tourism sought to increase foreign currency income due to the stay of foreigners in Lviv. That is why, “Intourist” focused on selling of souvenirs in currency, but their variety was limited and did not meet the needs of tourists. A similar situation arose with the sale of jewelry, besides, the packaging and labelling of such goods left much to be desired. Since the supply of services did not meet the demand of tourists, a “shadow market”/speculative trade developed outside the walls of “Intourist”. Despite all the difficulties, the economic and financial condition of the Lviv department of “Intourist” was better than in other regional branches of the company. The management efficiency in the tourism industry was reduced by the lack of a competition and the command-administrative economy, which restricted the freedom of activity and made the initiatives dependent on the decisions of the centre. A promising direction of the research remains the study of the so called “individual work” with foreign tourists and the practice of office power abuse by “Intourist” employees.