In January, 1986 Tatiana Zhigulina got a position of a personal assistant in "Sputnik" BMMT (Bureau of International Youth Tourism) under the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. Since then she has been the only head of the corporation. Her work experience in tour industry makes 24 years. Since the year 2007 she has been a Deputy of the City Duma. It is due to her professionalism, leadership role and sense of responsibility, her personal substantial contribution into the development and prosperity of the regional tourism industry, thirst and search for new directions and creative approach to whatever she does, her energy and enthusiasm, in 2002 and 2003 Ms. Zhigulina was awarded Letters of Thanks and Appreciation of the Head of Nizhnevartovskiy Rayon, in 2006 and 2008 she got Certificates of Merit from the Governor and in 2008 Mr. Zhigulina was awarded a Certificate of Merit of the Federal Tourism Agency.



 

It happened historically that Yugra became known as an oil and gas province of Russia. For the past decade, the Government of Yugra, with the aim to refocus the okrug economy on development of industry sectors not related to oil and gas production, laid an earnest emphasis on tour industry. Nizhnevartovsk "Sputnik" Corporation was among those few who happened to be ready to implement the idea. In 2004, the social project "To see Yugra is to Love Russia!", which concept was explicated by Ms. Tatiana Zhigulina, the Director General of "Sputnik" Tour and Transport Corporation, became the best project aimed at developing internal tourism in Yugra and turned to be the first in the competition for the government grant.


Since then, the trips to the famous oil lake Samotlor, tours to the Khanty people nomads camp, visiting ethnographic open-air museum in the City of Megion, snowmobiles' safari and many other things became a popular product at the Russian tourism market. Having created this product, "Sputnik" Tour and Transport Corporation in Nizhnevartovsk got its distinctive feature which demonstrates at its best all the advantages of the company among those working in the region.

It is no doubt that all the people working for "Sputnik" Corporation have greatly contributed to the success of their company. They are those who feel and act the same. As a rule, the new projects' driving force remains with Mr. Vasiliy Valerievich Sochilin, the Deputy Director General.

Vasiliy Valerievich is a talented manager and a responsible man who one can rely on.
For many years, it has been Ms. Natalia Vladimirovna Mikhailova, a highly professional specialist, who led the Financial Department.
The specialists working for "Sputnik" Corporation in Nizhnevartovsk know the price of their success. They had been forging their ship with great difficulty, steering it away from the shelves in the sea of market relations, and having kept it afloat when it was the time of default in 1998. Moving forward cost a lot that time, but it was exactly in 1998, when ZAO (Closed Joint-Stock Company) "Sputnik" Tour and Transport Corporation was awarded the Credibility Certificate of State Tax Inspectorate of the Russian Federation for a significant contribution to the economy of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug and Russia, as well as for the timely tax payments and other payments due to the budget.

In 2000, the company was put on the list of the Register of Reliable Partners of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug.
Presenting Yugra as a region for tourism, Ms. Tatiana V. Zhigulina proved to be a forward looking policy-maker and nationally thinking person, as the issue itself touches upon the native region prosperity. The internal tourism development assures creating new jobs and additional sources of economic growth. She ponders on that as a person who received a mandate of deputy, as well. Tatiana Vladimirovna represents the interests of the citizens in Nizhnevartovsk City Duma.
Nowadays, "Sputnik" brand name unites 350 companies in the Ukraine, Russia, Republic of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, giving stable jobs to 3 750 people. In 2007, "Sputnik" companies served 380 000 clients.
The Corporation has already done and keeps on doing a lot to develop the tourism industry of Russia. Its experience is valuable and useful for those who is anyhow engaged with this branch of industry. That is why we found it important to recap and preserve the most significant milestones in the history of our precious organization which almost a quarter century old.

We would like to thank those who were the originators of "Sputnik" Corporation, who played their role in its growth and development. They were thousands and thousands of common people: drivers, escort interpreters, tour centres' and hotel staff, managers of all levels. All of them have greatly contributed to the development of youth tourism.

We pay our obeisance and say the words of thanks to them for being patriotic, working devotedly and heartily for their company, "Sputnik".

Our special thanks to our clients, many of whom have travelled the routes of "Sputnik" for these long years and now keep on travelling these routes with their children. Their support, trust, kind advice and regards have ensured the company's dynamic development to a great extend. We are heartily thankful to our partners.

First of all, we would mention OJSC "Aeroflot", Sberbank JSC, Ingosstrakh OJSIC, Ministry for Communication Lines, "Sovtransavto" JSC, RF Marine Service and "Rechflot" Shipping Company for your support of large programmes and projects realised in Russia and abroad since the very first days when "Sputnik" was founded.
We want to thank our colleagues working for OJSC "Intourist" and Central Council For Tourism and Excursions. They helped "Sputnik" greatly in the first years of its work sharing their experience and professional knowledge. We highly appreciate support of municipal enterprises, specialists and directors of ministries and departments who had business relations with "Sputnik" in supporting the interests of youth tourism.
All of them were willing to help remaining our associates in implementation of many serious projects.