220 Chapter 6
interests of weekend and independent tourists. The shortage of good-quality,
lightweight tents and rucksacks remained a perpetual grievance.^32 Tourism
offi cials, for their part, hoped that the expanding network of tourist clubs
would restore the old spirit of voluntarism to Soviet tourism and allow them
to concentrate on the provision of profi t-making services. By 1960, seventy
clubs had been created across the country. These served above all as sources
of information: experienced tourists provided consultations, assisted by fi les
of trip diaries submitted by prior groups. Clubs explored and certifi ed new
local itineraries, and they acted as the gatekeepers for tourist groups, making
sure they were prepared for their proposed journeys. They also kept a reserve
of tourist equipment that groups of members could rent for their weekend
outings or longer trips.^33Summertime resters on the beach at Serebriannyi bor, Moscow, 1954. Photograph by
N. Rakhmanov. RGAKFD g. Krasnogorsk. Used with permission of the archive.- GARF, f. 9520, op. 1, d. 1272, l. 243; d. 632 (central tourism council plenum, Decem-
ber 1964), l. 22; TsAGM, f. 28, op. 3, d. 2, ll. 65–66. - TsAGM, f. 28, op. 2, d. 101 (Moscow TEU report, 1953), ll. 85–86; TsAGM, f. 28, op. 2,
d. 117 (Moscow TEU report, 1954), ll. 118–125; T. Pakhomova, “Moskovskii Gorodskoi Klub
Turistov,” Turistskie tropy. Al'manakh , vol. 1 (Moscow, 1958), 198–202.