Focus on development of tourism in Arctic will be made on cruises - Federal Tourism Agency

ST.PETERSBURG, April 11. / TASS/. The emphasis in the development of Arctic tourism program will be made on cruises, said the head of Federal Tourism Agency Zarina Doguzova in an interview with TASS during the International Arctic Forum. On April 9, the Ministry of Economic Development ordered the Federal Tourism Agency to prepare a program for the development of cruise tourism in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. "We will certainly focus on cruise tourism, because it’s all the same - the figures show that this is the most popular form of tourism in the Arctic," said Doguzova. The Federal Tourism Agency will become a platform for developing the most effective measures for the development of tourism in the Arctic, the head of the department said. The program will be created in close cooperation with experts on the Arctic and cruises in the region, major tour operators, environmentalists and business representatives who are willing to invest in projects in the Arctic regions of Russia, she said. In early April, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill that allows foreign tourists to land on shore in a number of ports in the Arctic and the Far East for sightseeing. The new legislation on cruise tourism in the Russian part of the Arctic will increase the number of tourists to the region by two or three times, predicted the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Sergey Galkin. Read more