What hinders the development of snowmobile tourism in Russia?
Snow tourism in Russia is almost inaccessible due to the need to provide a tractor driver’s license instead of the usual driver’s license for renting equipment.
Alexey Sinitsyn, member of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy: The situation is extremely sad. We have one of the largest centers of ski tourism in Sheregesh, where snowmobile and off-road tourism could be developed no worse than in Finland <...> admission to technology is possible only with a tractor driver's license. And in countries where this industry is developing, ordinary driving licences are sufficient.”
According to him, small business operates in a gray area, and most tourists do not have access to the right to control snowmobile and all-terrain vehicles. With its legalization, additional opportunities for the development of tourism appeared, and regional budgets will receive additional taxes.
Roman Nekrasov, Director of the Department of Crop Production, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture, countered that the training program for obtaining a driving license in Finland includes training in snowmobile driving.
Deputy Governor of the Kemerovo region and Kuzbass for culture, sports, tourism Sergey Alekseev says that the issue of developing snowmobile tourism is a priority in the region.
For example, in Canada, more than 3 million people are interested in this type of tourism, there are about a thousand thematic clubs in the country. This type of tourism generates $1 million, which is a serious entry into the economy every year.”
Proposals for amendments to federal legislation – draft laws and other normative acts – are ready and they will solve the problems of this tourism.
It is necessary to solve a number of issues: this is the definition of the legal regime of land under snowmobile and all-terrain highways, changing the established procedure for admission to the management of equipment and fixing in the Federal Law on tourism the concepts of "snowmobile tourism" and "snowmobile route".
Source: tourism.interfax