What challenges are facing natural tourism and what are the prospects of our country in this matter are being discussed in Sochi. The annual conference has started at the Rosa Khutor resort. The event has been held for the fourth year in a row and traditionally becomes a place for public discussion on the burning issues of sustainable development of natural recreation in Russia and the world. During the conference "Natural Tourism: Global Challenges and Prospects for Russia", a global overview of the key challenges, prospects, trends and risks that stand in the way of sustainable tourism development in specially protected natural areas (PAs) on our planet will be given.
«Natural tourism is one of the promising areas for the development of the industry. Russia is a beautiful and hospitable country with rich natural attractions. The Russian government pays great attention to the development of domestic tourism, does everything to ensure that Russian and foreign citizens travel, discovering the protected areas of our country.
For this, a national project has been launched, within the framework of which measures of state support are in effect, conditions are created for creating a tourism infrastructure, improving the quality of services, and developing natural tourism. The conference is a unique platform where representatives of the professional community of government and business conduct a direct dialogue, exchange interesting ideas, - reads the greeting of the conference participants by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
As noted by the deputy head of Sochi, Inna Petukhova, since the beginning of the year, 5.8 million guests have already visited Sochi, and by the end of the year the resort plans to receive about seven million tourists.
«During this period, the mountain cluster was visited by two million guests. The development of the mountain cluster gave a great impetus to the development of tourism in Sochi. The pandemic had a significant impact, people began to relax more in nature, and now, along with the sea, they enjoy recreation in the mountains, and eco-trails are actively developing. If you look at the official statistics over the past five years, budget revenues of the local level and the region have increased 1.6 times,» said the deputy head of the city of Sochi Inna Petukhova.
The international block of the conference program "Natural Tourism: Global Challenges and Prospects for Russia" this year will be represented by an important event - a joint session of the UN Environment Program and the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the implementation of the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030)».
«We have been saying lately that ecology, nature, climate and biodiversity are the basis for future life. Unfortunately, until today we have treated this in a barbaric way: 50 percent of life on the planet earth has already been destroyed. This leads to degradation in an accelerated mode of everything connected with the future of our children and grandchildren. The UN Secretary General has decided that the organization is launching a new ten-year ecosystem restoration program.
Of course, we must support the initiative and have already sent a corresponding appeal to the President of Russia, - emphasized the UN Goodwill Ambassador, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Fetisov.
Vyacheslav Fetisov noted that Russian enterprises are already ready to support the "green" initiative.
«I was surprised about eight years ago when Norilsk Nickel announced that a lot of money would be invested to modernize production. Then it struck a rumor, at that time no one thought about it yet. They are doing a lot now, I was in Norilsk, I saw a story with a sulfur plant, which will reduce emissions by 90 percent, the Arctic will breathe in a different way. I know that many industries are switching to environmental standards, realizing that environmental standards will be developed, the rules of the game, understanding that they will leave the market, and their products will not be in demand,» said Vyacheslav Fetisov.
During the conference, experts will discuss the implementation of "green standards" for the design and construction of infrastructure focused on environmental protection, human well-being and economic efficiency. For the first time, the term appeared on the Russian development market in the wake of the 2014 Winter Games. The Rosa Khutor resort has taken an initiative to form green standards for the design and construction of infrastructure in the sector of natural recreation and tourism in protected areas, using its own corporate standard - "Green Code" as a template.
«The Green Code is the corporate standard by which we will assess the quality of tourism infrastructure. We are developing a network of camps connected by routes. We propose the key principles for the infrastructure to be of high quality on the one hand, and on the other integrated into the natural landscape, so that the feeling of closeness to nature is not lost. This green standard is not a dream, it is construction quality management. The topic for Russia is quite young, so next year we will be disclosing it in the professional community so that experts together with us consider the “green code” to prepare an industry-wide standard, ”said Dmitry Kolosov, Director for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of the Rosa Khutor Resort.
Against the background of the rapid growth of the market, the conference will also touch upon the issues of the financial sector, which declares its interest in investing in projects for the sustainable development of nature tourism and tourism in protected areas, including using the principles of ESG investment. The industry is looking forward to the reform of the legislation on protected areas, which should create transparent rules for the implementation of investment projects related to the development of tourism in protected areas. One of the main topics of the conference will be the task of ensuring good-neighborliness and well-being for people and wild animals in the natural territory used for tourism and recreation.
Within the framework of the discussion session, the participants will discuss the possibilities and conditions for combining efforts to strengthen the scientific, technical and organizational base to ensure the safety of tourists and the preservation of wildlife in natural areas used for recreational activities. Security issues will also be discussed: over the past year, against the background of a significant growth in the consumer market in the industry, there have been shifts in the legislation on its professional participants - certification of instructors-guides has appeared, measures of administrative responsibility have been introduced.
The international conference "Natural Tourism: Global Challenges and Prospects for Russia" at the Rosa Khutor resort in Sochi will end on October 9.
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