One day Yulia Khazova decided to gather all the best objects of domestic tourism in one place, and that’s what came of it…
The project “Discover Russia with a traveling frog” was invented by Yulia Khazova from the Dmitrov Frog Museum so that tourists can travel around the country, having at hand a database of hotels where it will definitely be comfortable to stay, restaurants where it will be delicious, and private museums where you can have an interesting time.
The path to tourism through creativity
13 years ago, Yulia Khazova decided to open an art materials store and made her dream come true. Here it was possible not only to buy materials for creativity, but also to enroll in master classes in various directions. Craftsmen who had mastered a new profession with the help of the store began to bring their works here for sale. So Julia got a full-fledged networking: the store brought together more than 300 different artisans and artists and attracted the attention of the Dmitrov administration. Yulia was offered to build a separate building — this is how the cultural and tourist gallery “Tourist’s Dream” appeared, where the works of local artists and craftsmen were exhibited. And then the Dmitrov Frog Museum opened here. This is a symbolic animal for Dmitrov, built in the swamps: according to legend, the frogs warned of the approach of enemy troops with loud croaking and thus saved the city.
“Somehow it happened,” says Julia, “that we eventually closed the store, because it turned out not to be very profitable: now there are a lot of online stores. And they continued to support the masters.” Now there are three halls in the museum: the hall of artisans, where the works of more than 500 masters of the Dmitrovsky district are put up for sale, the museum hall, where sightseeing programs are held and guests are told the story of Dmitrov, and the exhibition hall — master classes, temporary exhibitions and other events are held here. In 2022, the museum was recognized as the most unusual in Moscow region according to the version of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.”
“Initially, my education was very far from tourism,” says Julia. — And in the end, such an interesting twist — apparently, someone needed it. In 13 years in tourism, I can say I’ve already eaten a dog. Or a frog. No, we don’t eat frogs here.”
Who does the traveling frog help?
First of all, to travelers like herself, and to everyone who works in the field of travel services. In fact, the project “Discover Russia with a frog traveler” is a constantly updated and replenished portal, which contains detailed information about museums, hotels and hotels in different regions of Russia. All recommendations are based on the personal experience of tourists. “Tourist information centers are a good help for travelers,” Yulia believes. — But, unfortunately, they do not always and everywhere work as they should. It is not always possible to get through to the TIC, they do not always have all the relevant information, they cannot always make up a route. And we are creating a database all over Russia — in fact, a unique one, and our task is to constantly supplement it so that it becomes even more informative and voluminous.”
In 2021, Yulia Khazova came up with a project, won a grant and used the money to purchase an interactive book, which was installed in the artisans’ hall in December 2022. Now, guests who come to the Dmitrov Frog Museum can familiarize themselves with the project and offer to add some objects to the database that they are ready to advise others. Yulia says that the project is popular among the guests: “They get acquainted with our site and get hooked on this project: they call, write to the mail, ask to add some objects. And, of course, they use this information base themselves when they go to some other region, plot routes with it, choose where they will go.”
When choosing a hotel, the portal “Discover Russia with a frog traveler” may also be useful. Julia explains it this way: “We used to have Booking.com Now there are other services that show the tourist hotels near him. But they reflect only the pricing policy, and at the same time a traveler can get to a hotel of any quality — both good and not so good. And with our project, you can choose a hotel for a comfortable stay — it can have any number of stars, but there will definitely be no cockroaches, there will be delicious food for breakfast.” The same applies to restaurants — the project’s website focuses on establishments that serve regional cuisine and are suitable for families with children. Everything is done to ensure that the impressions that the guest of the region will receive are at the highest level.
Yulia Khazova considers personal feedback and the principle of word of mouth to be important in tourism: “Our portal is developed by the responses of guests who have visited any region, residents who live in it, and this is great. Why? This can be viewed as an ancient tradition: earlier, 200-300 years ago, people met travelers and left them to spend the night at home. And these travelers told their hosts how life goes on in other parts of this world, shared their experiences. It’s like we’re doing something similar right now.”
The project works: networking and assistance to private museums
Yulia Khazova is sure that in the field of domestic tourism, a large role is given to state museums. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other, private museums often remain in the shadows: “Unfortunately, few tourists are attracted to private museums by regional authorities. The Ministries of tourism also often cannot say anything about such objects, but private museums are very interesting and can present guests with a story that not every state museum will tell.” Therefore, Julia sets one of her tasks to highlight cultural and educational private facilities in which tourists will be interested.
Speaking about the importance of support and mutual assistance in the field of private museums, Yulia Khazova recalls how in 2019 the chairman of the Association of Private and Public Museums of Russia Alexey Yuryevich Shaburov gathered representatives of 200 museums in Sokolniki. Julia met many people there and realized that if private museums do not help themselves, then no one will help them from the outside: “By sending guests to each other in different regions, we support the tourism business. The more people come to museums, the more money the region will have, which means the better its population will live. There are so many good people in our field who work and do everything to make the guests feel good too, but unfortunately we do not know about all the facilities. We can say that we don’t know anything at all. And the project is aimed at making sure that we learn as much as possible.”
The “Discover Russia with a Traveling Frog” project also involves factories of folk arts and crafts – now there are 52 of them on the site, and this is far from the final figure. As soon as Julia and her team learn about the new plant, it is immediately added to the project so that as many tourists as possible will know about it. By the way, the project is initially non-commercial, and Julia does not plan to make money from it: “It’s free for those who use it, and for those whom we add to our database. Everyone can safely enjoy these services — it’s such a gift from the heart, you know.”
Personal experience of the creator
Yulia Khazova regularly uses her own project herself, at the same time supplementing and refining it. For example, this year she visited Perm at the final of the Masters of Hospitality competition. The list of recommended hotels was sent to the participants, and everyone decided which restaurant to go to himself. At first, Julia was confused — the city is big, there are a lot of establishments, and it was very difficult to decide where to go. But then I remembered my own website: “I went to the portal, chose a restaurant, it turned out to be very close to me. I really liked it there! I showed the guys who work there that their institution is on our website. They were so happy! This is feedback from another region in general, in fact, they are advertised for free, advised to others. People are often surprised by this.”
And this year Yulia Khazova went to Sochi, where it was difficult to find both a hotel to stay and a restaurant to have dinner, and there were not enough facilities on the Discover Russia with a Frog Traveler website. In such cases, you have to try everything on yourself and then enter your favorite places into the information database yourself. This is also a working scheme.
Where will the “frog traveler” go next?
Compared to 2022, the project’s geography has significantly expanded. People from various regions of Russia leave good reviews about the project, and new objects are constantly being added to the database. “This year we have posted probably 300 objects on the site. This is normal, we are slowly trying,” Yulia Khazova says modestly. — You see, there is also a big difficulty in this — we want to give everyone good, verified information. So that you don’t just book any hotel and go to the first museum you come across, but choose good places for sure.”
Yulia plans to develop the project “Discover Russia with a frog traveler” further, adding to it a commercial component — virtual quests-excursions in different cities of Russia. At the same time, it is planned to cooperate with local entrepreneurs, in particular, guides and representatives of museums. “We are always for support, mutual assistance and cooperation: with private and public museums, with travel agencies, guides, with everyone,” says Julia. — Unfortunately, not all regions have entrepreneurs who would buy these quests from us. In Dmitrov, for example, there is one company, and that is not yet promoted. They do not have a website, and they sell their products through social networks. And entrepreneurs need to be pushed to ensure that the business is transparent, and not just come, it is unclear how they earned and left. When a business is transparent, people see it and are ready to give money so that their vacation is comfortable. I think we will be able to develop this direction, but it takes time.”
“Sometimes a tourist says thank you, but nothing else is needed”
Every year Yulia Khazova comes up with new charity projects at the Dmitrov Frog Museum — for example, in 2023 she conducted excursions and master classes for the blind: “In fact, it is very difficult to do. If everything is clear with wheelchair users, they need a barrier-free environment, then everything is not easy here — you need to figure out how to surprise them. For the most part, such people are locked up at home, few people travel, so here I want to convey to them all possible emotions. We have developed a special program for them, where they tactilely study our frogs, and then go to a master class where they make a doll out of grain.” They also work with young people with disabilities in the museum: “They are 20-30 years old, we draw with them and study folk crafts so that, having learned, they can earn extra money, and they have some extra money. For example, they draw folk patterns: gzhel, khokhloma. At first there were 13 people, now there are 8 left, but they have been walking regularly for several months. We had an exhibition with the works of these guys — they are still being sold without our mark-up, everyone decides for themselves how much they want to pay.”
Yulia Khazova calls the “Masters of Hospitality” competition the most important professional achievement of this year, where she and her team became laureates: after that, there was a special feeling of recognition and importance of what they do every day. But about the goals for the next year, he says this: “God grant that there is health and strength in order to come up with something new, not to stop at what has been achieved. I always want to move on.”
And speaking about the name of her project, Julia smiles: “It’s like that, with humor. And it’s like something out of a cartoon, from a fairy tale. Something that people remember, and it brings them joy. Something they can tell their children about. It’s about the connection between different regions and generations.” And also, of course, about the trips themselves. Yulia Khazova is sure that a person who travels is doing well — he gets a charge of positive emotions and then can work productively for some period of time. And travel industry professionals, in turn, get their positive emotions from tourists: “You know, when a tourist says, “Thank you very much!“sometimes you think — because you don’t need anything else. Recently, a mother and her teenage son come to the museum. He says, “No, I’m not going to the museum. Buy me this and that, and I don’t need anything else.“ And I said to him, “Let’s go to the museum.” I give him a tour myself, and at the exit he says: “Mom, this is the coolest museum!”And I think that’s probably what I’m working for.”
About the competition
The “Pro!” contest is held within the framework of the “Know our PRO” project. Its purpose is to introduce those who create domestic tourism today. You can find the stories of all the participants who announced themselves before October 31 on the project, as well as on the Profi pages.Travel.
At the end of December, the organizers of the Know Our PRO project will choose three people who will receive additional prizes: the opportunity to present their project/company at the online exhibition “Know Our: Summer 2024” (2 invitations). One of the participants will receive the main prize — 5 days of rest for two at the Sochi Park Hotel from the tour operator Anex.
Author: Maria Grafova
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