U.S., Sept. 17 -- UNWTO has a highly controversial and political aspect to it when the Republic of Crimea was noted in the framework of the UNWTO General Assembly in St. Petersburg. Widely ignored by media, deliberately overlooked by delegates from western European countries, the Russian host was loud and clear with its support for their youngest Republic Crimea. Crimea was taken from Ukraine and most western countries consider the region to be part of Ukraine.

On September 11-12, the Government of St. Petersburg, with the support of the Federal Tourism Agency, organized the Saint Petersburg Travel Hub exhibition, within which the tourism potential of the Republic of Crimea was also presented. In the days of the forum, the Crimean stand ...