An entrepreneur from St. Petersburg creates eco-tours for schoolchildren.
Tourism is a business that can enter a person’s life unexpectedly and seemingly by accident. This is exactly what happened to Roman Tsvetkov from St. Petersburg. He was engaged in the transport business and logistics until he got acquainted with the Ruskeala project and its founder Alexander Artemyev. And now the logistics are forgotten. For 10 years now, the main activity for Roman has been the travel business. He is nominated for the “Pro!” competition as an entrepreneur who pays a lot of attention to the development of school and eco-tourism.
From business to social projects
Karelia became the anchor destination for Roman Tsvetkov and his company ScanTur from the very beginning. “I’m from I consider St. Petersburg and Karelia to be my second homeland. I have a lot of relatives there, and my wife is from this region,” he says. — But even if it weren’t for personal reasons, I’m sure Karelia would have sunk into her soul. Such beauty, such richness of nature…”
When ScanTur was just starting its activity, Karelia and Ruskeala Park were not yet perceived as tourist hits. So Roman Tsvetkov took part in the promotion of these projects. And in 2019, he opened a corporate social responsibility department in his company.
“The development of school tourism, the creation of environmental education programs, increasing human resources and sustainable development are the main areas of our activity,” says Roman. — We have a conference on school tourism for 120 teachers from all over Russia, two forums dedicated to marketing and promotion for 150 tour operators and travel agents, the creation of a digest on environmental tourism in our portfolio for entrepreneurs, the development of an educational and methodological complex of the educational journey “Green Gold”. We see it as our mission to help tourists make their trips conscious, and for entrepreneurs to strive for sustainable business development.”
Teenagers — to entertain, educate and inspire
“Green Gold” is a project in 2023, within the framework of which Roman and his team created an ecological route for students in grades 7-9 and a set of educational and methodological materials for schools to implement the development into the educational process.
The main idea is to give teenagers information about environmental management, waste recycling, and teach them how to use a digital laboratory to study air and water in the natural environment. Sounds… not that it’s very entertaining. However, in practice, it turned out to be a two-day adventure route. Teachers, employees of the Karelian Institute of Education, the Kivach Reserve and, by the way, the teenagers themselves worked on its creation together with representatives of the travel agency, who offered their ideas and gave feedback, told what was interesting and what should not be included in the program.
“Green Gold” is radically different from the usual tour for adults or families with children, says Roman Tsvetkov. The training program begins not at the moment when the travelers boarded the bus, but the day before, at school. The teacher in the lesson finds out what the children already know about the topic of the upcoming trip, and gives introductory information.
I must say that the program is designed for 15-20 participants, no more. And five adults go on a trip with them: a teacher, a mentor, two employees of the Kivach reserve and a tour guide. The latter does not just provide information on the route, but purposefully engages in team building: it helps the guys to rally, be inspired by the idea of traveling and have fun together.
On the first day upon arrival at the reserve, young tourists will learn what forests are and why it is so important to protect them. How to understand how clean the air is in the forest, how to assess the soil, interpret the state of lichens and evaluate the stand. Schoolchildren take air and water samples, analyze them digitally right in the forest, and record the results in an interactive diary of an ecologist. This one was created specifically for the Green Gold project and contains a lot of additional information on the topic of travel: where to hand over recyclables, how long it takes to recycle certain waste, how to become more environmentally friendly in the modern world, etc.
The next day, the guys come to the Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill, where they learn how paper is made from wood. By the way, local paper is considered the most durable, it can withstand the weight of an adult. The employees of the plant also talk about how they are trying to improve the environmental friendliness of their production. Then the students take and analyze water and air samples near Segezha.
On the same day, the final lesson of the tour takes place — the participants determine the topics for future scientific papers. And two weeks later, they present their research to the jury members at the site of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
How much does eco-education cost
Roman Tsvetkov and his associates have already organized a demonstration trip under the Green Gold program for schoolchildren, experts from the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economic Development of Karelia. The project received very high marks. The conclusions of teenagers are especially encouraging: “We will protect the nature of Karelia”, “It is necessary that people know more about ecology”.
ScanTur is preparing to launch the sale of the Green Gold program. Let’s see how the market responds, and the economic factor determines a lot here. The cost of a two-day tour, organized according to the all-inclusive system, with transport services, accommodation in a 3* hotel, meals and all classes on the route, will be 18-25 thousand rubles, depending on the number of participants. According to the developers, such a trip cannot be cheap, because when working with children, special importance must be attached to the quality and safety of services. Already, considerable funds are being invested in the development of environmental education projects, including the work of many specialists of the ScanTur company.
Do you think such programs are needed? Is it really possible to fully or partially finance them at the expense of the state?
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