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09-Aug-2006
Moscow Authorities Angry with Lonely Planet for Smearing City?s Image
Created: 09.08.2006 16:15 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:58 MSK MosNews
Moscow officials have launched an attack on Lonely Planet, saying the backpackers’ guide portrays the Russian capital as a gangster-infested Gotham and presents an image of the city that is at least 15 years out of date, the Guardian reports.
One television channel said the guide suggested that “life in the Russian capital is determined by the laws of the jungle. Foreigners are being warned: criminals, AIDS and mites are raging in Moscow and shops are full of fake vodka.”
Lonely Planet lauds Moscow’s beauty and history in its 258-page guide, but notes the city is “riddled with corruption.”
It highlights the business interests of the mayor, Yury Luzhkov, saying he is “as much a chief executive as he is a mayor” and has gained popularity with a “bread and circuses” approach to satisfying Muscovites. Criticism of the book comes as city officials launch a 14-million-pound initiative to improve Moscow’s image abroad.
They have expressed anger at foreign stereotypes of the city, including a recent survey by British consultancy, Mercer HR, which suggested it was the most expensive place in the world.
Moscow is calmer and less dangerous than it was in the early 1990s, but maintains a reputation for social inequality, drive-by shootings and racist attacks.
Tour operators concerned that the capital’s poor image was deterring visitors joined the criticism of the guide book this week. Aleksey
Shavlov, the public relations director of Soviet-era tour operator Intourist, said on Russian television: “How could they write that prostitutes were standing at every corner in Moscow? We have never had this, we do not and will not have this. Brothels are prohibited here.” The guidebook does not mention prostitutes on “every corner” but does say that Moscow “epitomizes the seamier side of post-communist Russia.”
The number of tourists in Moscow is increasing by ten percent each year.