From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 9/28/2007 7:24 PM
Snipers, poverty and poor roads, but is this the next tourist haven?

After years of war, republic sees a new future as Russia's answer to Switzerland
Tom Parfitt in Shatoy
Saturday September 29, 2007

Guardian
Black and ragged at the edges, the stain on the passenger window of Khasukha Demilkhanov's Volga saloon looks like a huge blot of ink. "Ah, that," he said. "Yes, the car is armour-plated. That's where a bullet hit the window. It stopped it, actually. Not bad, eh?"

High in the hills of Shatoy region in southern Chechnya, assassination is a real threat for Mr Demilkhanov, 47, the head of the local government. Beyond Shatoy village heavily armed militants occupy the forested glens that climb to the border with Georgia.

Last year his younger brother, another pro-Moscow official, was shot dead in his car by a rebel sniper. Buildings destroyed in fighting, terrible poverty and lack of roads are other headaches here on Russia's most southern fringe. But Mr Demilkhanov thinks he knows what could save Shatoy: tourism.

"Here we will build a health centre with 10 special baths," said the former collective farm manager, heaving open the Volga's reinforced door and stepping into dazzling sunlight. "This stuff cures every skin disease you can think of." A few metres away piping hot sulphurous water pours from a tap in an open field and flows into a gully. Nearby Mr Demilkhanov plans to construct a sports centre, a hotel and a swimming pool. "Chechnya is Russia's answer to Switzerland," he said with a straight face. "It's very peaceful here."

It is no personal flight of fancy. After more than a decade of war a sense of normality is returning to Chechnya. Grozny, the capital once devastated by Russian carpet bombing, has undergone massive reconstruction. Shooting is no longer heard in the streets. Direct flights to Moscow restarted in the spring. And last winter the republic's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, declared that he was "absolutely convinced that Chechnya's attractiveness is no less than other regions of Russia or Europe".

Mr Kadyrov, 30, a former independence fighter who swapped sides and is now president of Chechnya's pro-Kremlin administration, has crushed most armed opposition. "The tourist business could seriously add to the budget of the Chechen republic," he insisted.

Mr Kadyrov's subordinates knew when to jump. Last month the ministry for physical culture, sport and tourism issued a plan for developing tourism which concluded that "the recreation potential of the republic is limitless".

The plan includes a 500-room hotel in Grozny, reconstruction of a Soviet-era holiday camp in Benoy village and development of a former Olympic training base in Vedeno region. Campsites will be opened and cultural monuments restored. About £40m will be invested.

Are such proposals absurd while armed skirmishes between rebels and the security forces are still a weekly, if not daily, occurrence? "No," said the deputy tourism minister, Salman Dalakov. "These projects will take years, during which time the security situation will steadily improve. We must look to the future."

Mr Dalakov said he hoped Chechnya could regain Soviet levels of tourism, when 20,000 visitors came every month to go skiing, walking and horse-riding in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains.

In Shatoy Mr Demilkhanov was wasting no time. At his headquarters he changed into more comfortable clothes: a natty black tracksuit and a pair of brown winklepickers.

"Everything will be geared to tourism," he said as he gave the Guardian a tour of the village. Mr Demilkhanov has fond memories of his own foreign tour to the US in 1990 when he studied milking machines in Vermont. "You are way ahead of us in the west," he said. "But our natural beauty is second to none."

He could be right. The dramatic Argun Gorge which runs through Shatoy is like a scene from a woodcut in the 19th century, when Russian writers like Tolstoy and Lermontov fell in love with the romance of the Caucasus. In the folds of nearby hills there are beautiful stone towers, once used as lookouts for enemies, that will be repaired under the tourism plans. Alpine meadows are full of wild flowers. Snow-capped peaks in the main Caucasus range are occasionally visible to the south.

One small step on the path to development of Shatoy is already complete: more than two miles of asphalt laid over the rough stone track that leads up from the plains. The remaining nine miles should be completed next year.

Security remains a big question, however. The Foreign Office and the US state department advise against trips to the region. Fighters who espoused Chechnya's secession from Russia and once enjoyed popular support have withered. But a core of about 700 militants are still hiding in the mountains.

Despite his claims that the region is peaceful, Mr Demilkhanov always travels with two bodyguards carrying Tulpan (Tulip) sawn-off Kalashnikovs. (More reassuringly his blackened car window was caused by President Kadyrov's security officers testing the glass, rather than a would-be assassin.) Military checkpoints are everywhere. When we travelled past Shatoy deeper into the mountains a Russian armoured personnel carrier rumbled past. Minutes after it rounded a corner there were single shots and then peals of automatic gunfire. "Maybe an ambush," said our driver.

In Grozny the prospect of tourism seems closer. For now official delegations, accredited journalists and NGO workers are the only foreigners allowed to enter Chechnya. Yet others are already finding a way in. "There were five Korean lads who turned up in the summer," said a manager at the Kavkaz, Grozny's only hotel, with 10 rooms. "I've no idea how they got here. They were just curious to take a look around."

Along the repaved central Prospekt Pobedy cafes and boutiques have sprung up. Billboards advertise designer fashions and manicures. Western culture is hitting Chechnya, although local customs remain strong. A women's clothes shop promises "a combination of modesty and beauty".

Mr Dalakov admitted that attracting visitors would be a long process, starting with Russian trippers and moving on to foreign "extreme tourists" before tapping the mainstream market. But strong traditions of hospitality in Chechnya would oil the wheels, he said. "Welcoming guests is a joy for us."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/chechnya/Story/0,,2179772,00.html