New opportunities may appear in the Murmansk region

Murmansk and Monchegorsk residents working in the tourism sector are looking for common ground. Cooperation between the tourism industry of the two cities should give guests to the region new opportunities, and help the industry solve some problems.

The flow of tourists to the Murmansk region has been growing steadily in recent years. At the same time, the region is still only a set of individual destinations for guests – Teriberka, Rybachy, Murmansk. The goal is to make an offer to tourists that will make them stay in the Kola Arctic, leave a little more money, or return here for new experiences.

– Monchegorsk has been actively becoming a tourism leader in the last few years. And they go under our “Young and Restless” stamp. And today Monchegorsk is in great demand from the point of view of what else to do in the Murmansk region. We went to Teriberka, visited Sredny and Rybachy… And, perhaps, did something else? It’s important to answer this question today, don’t just come to us in Monchegorsk. And to make sure that the tour operators who receive us in Murmansk know why we come to Monchegorsk,” said Alexander Eliseev, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Murmansk Region.

– Our task is to make friends between our business and tour operators in the region so that we can have a comprehensive tour that would include Monchegorsk, or only to Monchegorsk. Here we no longer limit the imagination of entrepreneurs and will be happy with any solutions,” said Daria Yarkova, deputy director of the Monchegorsk Development Agency, head of the Tourism department.

The initiator of the meeting was the Monchegorsk Development Agency. This is a center established in 2020 by Norilsk Nickel and the city administration, designed to contribute to the transformation of the economy and the urban environment. In three years we managed to do a lot, for example, filling the calendar with exciting events such as Imandra Viking Fest or X-waters. But challenges, of course, remained.

– Unfortunately, now this is mainly some kind of seasonal story. I hope that in the future we will be able to illuminate Monchegorsk and paint it with bright colors. So that people would go there en masse, regardless of the season,” noted Deputy General Director of the tour operator company Dmitry Tokarchuk.

– In fact, we have three large hotels. But, in my opinion, the big problem is that there are no accommodation places close to nature – recreation centers, glampings. Why is a metropolitan resident traveling? To be closer to nature, and not live in a hotel. 12-38

The development of tourism infrastructure and avoidance of seasonality are interrelated problems. They can be leveled out by new tourism products, which the organizers hope will be the result of such meetings,” noted Victoria Kokaya, a tour guide for Monchegorsk.