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The Times: With foreign travel increasingly difficult for Russian citizens, Moscow is set on regenerating domestic tourism. With its defunct gulags and ghost towns, Russia’s far east still bears the marks of a past life as the home for enemies of the state. But Moscow has grand ambitions for this sparsely populated region and its 29 active volcanoes: mass tourism.
Since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, visa restrictions and a European airspace closed to Russian aircraft have made it increasingly difficult for Russians to travel abroad for holidays. By way of compensation for his citizens, Putin’s government has decided to invest in making the far east — parts of which will get their first hour of daylight since November this week — a new holiday hot spot.
A 2,000-room resort dubbed the Three Volcanoes will be built and 170 newly safety-certified hiking routes have been mapped out. Flat tariffs at Russia’s biggest airline, Aeroflot, have been introduced, meaning passengers can take a round trip from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (roughly the same distance as London to Buenos Aires), for 15,000 roubles (£130).
Visitors will be offered tours through the Valley of the Geysers, the second-largest geyser field in the world, “winter surfing”, and traditional dog sled racing, as the authorities try to promote the region as the perfect place for those seeking “active, adventure-filled tourism amidst wild nature”. Projects to build accommodation and establish fishing, hunting and hiking bases have also begun.
The Russia Forum exhibition in Moscow celebrates the president’s project to grow and improve the Russian hospitality and travel industries, with visitors able to take a “tour” across the country, stopping at stalls that represent each region — including the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-far-east-holiday-kamchatka-vladimir-putin-2ltnjzj7d
