There are many historical monuments and unique natural areas in Turkmenistan where rare plant species grow, including medicinal ones. The development of school tourism to historical and natural sites of the country is a contribution to the development of future generations of Turkmen citizens who will be grateful for full and interesting school years, for the formation of interest in traveling around their native land, says Ogulson Annamuradova, associate professor of the Turkmen State Institute of Culture.

On the pages of the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan", the scientist revealed the prospects for the development of this area in the country.

Educational-thematic excursions and weekend routes conducted on the topics of the school educational program help not only to consolidate the educational material, but also act as an additional pedagogical process that combines training and patriotic education.

The educational opportunities of school tourism to historical sites and natural areas are determined by both their content and a wide thematic range (overview, historical, literary, architectural, etc.). This is a powerful educational and upbringing tool that allows schoolchildren to become familiar with the natural and historical heritage of the country not through pictures in a textbook, but in practice.

The scientist notes that the rating of schools in many countries of the world, among other things, depends on how well educational and local history tourism is organized. The most modern trends in excursion services in the world allow for the organization of entertaining games, quests, and creative tasks.

At the same time, O. Annamuradova proposes effective measures to implement plans for the development of school excursion tourism. This is interdepartmental coordination, namely, the participation of the education sector, the environmental department, the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Monument Protection, transport and road departments, which will create the opportunity to plan and coordinate excursions and trips within the framework of the school curriculum. Of course, specialists from tourism enterprises will also have a lot of preparatory work to do when developing school excursion tourism, she notes.

It should be said that tourism enterprises are now organizing domestic tours for schoolchildren. At the same time, well-thought-out, systematic and comprehensive work on organizing school tourism with the involvement of relevant departments can become another contribution to the activities to improve the services of the tourism sector, which is called upon to be one of the full-fledged sectors of the modern market economy.

As a result of targeted efforts of the state, favorable opportunities have been created in the country for organizing tourism and providing services for comfortable travel around the native land. This concerns the built modern infrastructure, the establishment of transport communications and modern types of communication.

According to researchers, the share of international tourist tours in relation to domestic ones is approximately 20% (average data for the world), since people mainly travel within their home country, visit friends and relatives, make pilgrimages to holy places, go on vacation to popular holiday destinations, resorts, and also make business trips related to business, etc. In this regard, there is a pressing need to closely engage in the development of domestic tourism, including school tourism, the scientist concluded.