How does the Russian government assess the potential of ecological tourism in the country?
Russia is among the top five countries in terms of the number of natural sites, but ecotourism occupies 2% in the travel sector, so Russia has a huge potential in this direction.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said during his visit to Kamchatka: “We need to create conditions so that citizens of our country can travel more and get acquainted with various unique territories <...> we have an advantage over other countries, Russia has the largest area of specially protected natural territories in the world.” The country has enormous potential to develop ecotourism and become a leader in this direction.”
Chernyshenko noted that this issue is being discussed in Kamchatka not by chance, since one of the "most fragile values" - the Valley of Geysers - is located in this region.
“This is one of the most sensitive areas when it is necessary to maintain a balance between the preservation of nature, ecology and the organization of affordable tourism in these territories,” he said.
Chernyshenko recalled that there are about 12,000 specially protected natural areas in Russia, which is about 12% of the area of the whole of Russia.
“The share of ecotourism in the overall structure of the domestic tourism market accounts for only 2%. That's very little. For example, according to the World Tourism Organization, Russia ranks fifth in the world out of 133 countries in terms of the number of natural sites <...> in terms of the openness of tourism, that is, in terms of the accessibility of these territories, we occupy 108th place. This is unacceptable, we must work with it, the deputy prime minister said.
According to Chernyshenko, it is necessary to form offers for tourists based on the unique advantage that nature gave.
Source: tourism.interfax.