Travel blogger Viktoriia Knignitskaia:  “I adore places far from traditional tourist locations.”

Viktoriia Knignitskaia is a blogger, founder of a unique travel community, and experienced traveler with her special style. Viktoriia has popularized author tours in Russia and turned the idea of travel for hundreds of thousands worldwide upside down. Today a person who managed to gather a vast community of like-minded people around her is answering our questions.

Viktoriia, you promote an unconventional approach to travel. Can you tell us how you came to that?

I love places that tourists usually do not get to. Even before I became involved in organizing tours professionally, I was very happy to share the locations I could visit. A little later, when I had my first clients, I put together tours for them with great passion – I wanted people to get into the atmosphere of a new city or country. I received a lot of good reviews and recommendations. Thus came the understanding that I have quite a lot of like-minded people – people who are interested in going beyond all-inclusive travel. 

Most still prefer to spend their holidays without leaving the hotel grounds. What do you think?

Yes, there are a lot of such people. And they are understandable – for many people, such a vacation is necessary to restore their strength. But if someone comes to me with such a request, I always offer to widen the scope a little. And the vector shifts, there is interest, and people open up to new things. Many of my regular clients started their journey in tourism, specifically with the all-inclusive travel format.

Tell us about your travel platform.

This is a site where each user has an account. People register, then they can contact the guide and ask any question directly. We have a database of the best guides from around the globe. We are looking for people who love their place and can convey its unique atmosphere. Among them are many historians, architects, journalists, and artists. Users can sort suggestions by date, direction, price, and type of vacation. Everyone can choose a trip to their liking. There is a system of privileges for regular members in three levels – our tourists accumulate points and get discounts and personal bonuses. In addition, the site has an online magazine where I publish my articles and notes, and professional experts from the field of tourism or related areas share helpful knowledge. Now the number of users registered on the platform has already exceeded 500 thousand. This is an audience from all over the world and is constantly growing. 

That sounds impressive. How did you come up with the idea of organizing such a space?

In fact, everything that has been implemented based on the Victory Travel Community I have offered my clients offline before. I shared my experience, we invited experts to live meetings, and I organized exclusive author tours, taking into account all my wishes. The desire to reach a larger audience, to tell as many people as possible about what travel can be, and to infect them with my idea and love for this format of tourism led me to create the platform. 

Your gastronomic guidebook, released during the lockdown period, was an absolute bestseller. Why do you think it has such popularity?

I selected all the materials collected in the book based on my experience. The uniqueness of my tours is that I adore places far removed from traditional tourist locations. I like to get in touch with the atmosphere, real people, their life, cuisine, culture, etc. The guidebook includes, among other things, small restaurants located right on farms, cafes with traditional national cuisine, and family restaurants. I took notes about these places, wrote down recipes, and wrote about them on my blog. But when travel was on hiatus, I compiled all the information into a single gastronomic guide. That’s how “Viktoriia’s Gastronomic Trips” came to be. The trick of the book is that for travelers, it opens up the opportunity to visit interesting places, and for those who are not going on a trip, it demonstrates original recipes for delicious dishes from different cuisines of the world. What people like about the book is that it’s not the most popular place and recipes but truly unique and colorful dishes with their history. 

You’ve tried so many dishes and traveled to so many countries. What’s closest to your heart?

I adore Spain. On my first visit to this country, I realized that this is my place. It combines everything – architectural monuments, sea and mountains, comfortable climate, and colorful, unforgettable festivals. This is a very open and friendly people. A separate mention should be made of Spanish cuisine – it’s a true art, with rich flavors of paella, tapas, and wine. For many years I have been living in two houses – Russia and Spain. 

What are your goals for the near future?

Right now, I’m developing my Instagram. Before, I didn’t focus on social networks – I kept my blog on my site. The readers were mainly regular users of the service. But I wanted to expand my audience over time – I chose the most popular social network, Instagram. The platform is ideal for my content – a nice picture and small text. Now my goal is to get a million subscribers on my profile. This will be the criterion for recognizing my work – I put a lot of resources into making the blog as helpful as possible.