Bender re-opened to tourists

After a break of 18 years during which Bender had been closed for tourism, cooperation between travel agencies from both banks of the Nistru was recently resumed as part of a unique program that intends to combine commercial, historical, ecological and rural tourism so as to allow tourists to discover, or re-discover historical sites in the town of Bender or the beauties of the Lower Nistru Ramsar Site, Info-Prim Neo learned from a UNDP-Moldova press release. The development of the tourism route in the Lower Nistru Ramsar Site is one of the activities of the project titled “Common effort to consolidate the future of the internationally recognized site Lower Nistru”. The official launch of the tourism route took place recently, with 40 representatives of Chisinau travel agencies testing it. Tourists will be able to sightsee the Fortress of Bender, the ramification of the Nistru along the Turunchuck branch (in the Ramsar site), the landscape architecture monument in the village of Choburchiu, the tourism complex “The Wine Museum Butylka” in the village of Ternovka, and the “Bulgarian Estate” in Parcani village. Excursions will also be offered to the Chitscani Monastery, the Tiraspol “Kvint” Distilleries, etc. Viktor Kulishov, the director of the Bender-based travel agency Atlantis, which is one of the partners of the Ecological Society Biotica, says the Bender Zone has a huge potential for tourism. While 20 years ago the town received 30 to 40 groups of tourists on a daily basis, after the 1992 events, Bender was closed for tourism and virtually no one visited it for tourism purposes for 18 years. “Together with the Ecological Society Biotica we intend to revive tourism in the Transnistrian region, laying the foundation for a long-lasting cooperation between the tourism firms from the eastern and western sides of the Nistru. We hope to attract into the Transnistrian region at least 10 percent of the tourists who visit the Republic of Moldova”, says Viktor Kulishov. Alexei Andreev, the chairman of Biotica's board, says the Lower Nistru has sites of unique beauty. “We wanted very much to produce an authentic and functional offer. The site has been little explored despite its great potential”, said Alexei Andreev. The project is implemented by the Ecological Society Biotica as part of the “Support to Confidence-Building Measures” Program, financed by the European Union and implemented by UNDP.