Chukotka Authorities Hope for 50,000 Tourist Visits Annually by 2025

Illustration

Plans by the regional government in Russia’s Chukotka include double the number of tourists visiting the region annually to 50,000, the head of the regional Fund for Development of Tourism, Sergei Kochanov, told TASS on Monday.

Chukotka’s government was the first among Russia’s regions to adopt a tourism development strategy until 2025.

“According to the strategy, by 2025 the number of tourists will double to reach 50,000 a year, and export of tourism services will grow from $300,000 in 2018 to $1.1million by 2025,” the official said.

The government highlights five priority tourism directions: Anadyr and its surroundings, Egvekinot, East Chukotka, Pevek and the Wrangel Island, as well as mainland (West) Chukotka. Special focus will be made on development of the ecology, ethnography and cruise tourism. “Presently about 1,500 cruise tourists visit Chukotka,” he continued. “The region is most popular with tourists from the U.S. and Germany. Just compare, the number of cruise tourists to Alaska is one million a year, thus our potential is high, and we shall use it.”

The region plans construction of new hotels and camps, including in ethnic styles, training of hospitality specialists, it will develop transport infrastructures and offer a comfortable business environment.

Under the strategy, the region will organize new events – a new music festival is due in summer, 2020, and The Bering Strait festival of extreme sports will feature crossing the strait between two continents – Eurasia and North America. According to the Fund, Chukotka presently welcomes annually 25,000 visitors; most of them, however, travel there on business. The number of foreign tourists now is not more than 400 people a year.