Today, a round table devoted to the project of Siberian Divnogorye tourism and recreation cluster construction was held in Krasnoyarsk. The discussion was participated by representatives of the related regional institutions, municipal administration, tourism, and the Yenisey Siberia Development Corporation.
The territory of Divnogorsk and its surroundings provides a strong tourism potential. The tourist flow of the territory counts over 100 thousand tourists per year. Due to the proximity to the city, transport availability, unique nature and interesting locations this destination may attract tourists both from Krasnoyarsk and other cities and regions. At the moment, it offers a number of venues specializing in the spheres of sports, event tourism and educating tourism. In the past several years, the touristic infrastructure of the town has greatly changed. Moreover, some investment initiatives for the development of hospitality industry have appeared. The idea of establishing a tourism cluster came up in order to provide a unified approach to the support and promotion of such projects.
“In the past several years, the businesses and the authorities have been coming up with different ideas about developing this sphere of activity, but nobody has proposed a consolidated position or a clear development programme. It is still up to us to determine the main weak points and the most urgent tasks for the national authorities to make it possible for us to work all together”, said the Head of the Tourism Agency of Krasnoyarsk Region Yulia Verkhushina.
The participants of the meetings remarked that there was a number of problems that restrict the development of tourism in the said territory. They are mostly related to the worn-out state or absence of the required infrastructure, legislative restrictions, lack of finance, and absence of a unified approach. Development of the territory as one cluster will open the way to the federal and regional finance and to shape up a comprehensive approach.
“At the moment, the Yenisey Siberia project has a developed system of consideration and support of projects at both regional and federal levels. It has the taskforces considering the projects, including the initiatives that require some governmental support. We believe that the Siberian Divnogorye project may also be considered within the same format. Moreover, we are ready to help making up the unified investment passport of the project. If we bring the private initiatives and municipal plans together, if we formulate our needs for infrastructure and support, we will be able to submit the project for consideration and for federal support”, said the Director for Development of the Yenisey Siberia Development Corporation Alexei Nikolaev.
Establishment of a unified cluster may ensure the increase of the average annual tourist flow by over 20%, facilitating the development of sports, cultural, educating and other types of tourism, create new jobs in the small and medium-sized businesses. Moreover, it may serve as a basis for the development of the town, increasing its investment attractiveness, improving the urban space quality and conserving the unique environment and nature of the territory.