When creating the Three Volcanoes park in Kamchatka, it is necessary to provide a recreational ecosystem, said Peter Shpilenok, director of the Kronotsky State Reserve, in his speech at the II international conference "Natural tourism: a global challenge and the discovery of Russia". He emphasised that forming the trail network and creating infrastructure in the planned park is necessary at the stage of assessment and development to ensure the possibility of mandatory strict management of tourist flows and the introduction of scientific monitoring of natural complexes.
“With the development of ecotourism emphasis will be placed on the preservation of nature, and not on tens of thousands of tourists and millions of dollars in profit. World practice shows that such projects are not economically justified when wildlife disappears,” he added. He reminded the conference participants of the negative historical experience of the Kronotsky Reserve - the consequences of touristic visits of the all-Union trail to the Valley of Geysers in the 1960s. For several years, many geysers were almost completely dismantled for souvenirs; tourists trampled over Fimbristylis ochotensis, listed in the Red Book, which grows only in thermal areas. More than 30% of the paths led to soil erosion and continue to degrade. According to statistics, in 1968-1972 only 1,500-2,500 people who visited the Valley during the year caused this damage to the ecosystems. In the project of the new park we are talking about hundreds of thousands of tourists, said Shpilenok.
“Tourism in Kamchatka develops in the most unique and vulnerable places. The wrong strategy can lead to the degradation of the best of what we have in Kamchatka. It is important to put up the right principles, we hope that it will be like that,” he added.
In his turn, the director of the department of state policy and regulation in the field of development of special protected natural areas of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Ivan Shmakov, also believes that during the development of territories it is necessary to maintain a balance between nature and the economy.
"Previously, we observed a shift towards the economy, now in some cases there is a shift towards the environment. Everywhere you need to maintain balance, everywhere you need harmony," said the director of the department. According to him, in Russia there are many conservation territories, including nature reserves, national parks, which involve visiting tourists and hold educational events.
“There is no need to close the areas completely. It is necessary to create conditions under which the business will be ready to enter those areas where it is possible. And it is essential to identify the rules and obligations that business has to comply with when working in these territories,” Shmakov said.
He mentioned that the National Program «Ecology» includes 11 projects, including the conservation of biological diversity and the development of ecological tourism. The Ministry of Natural Resources pays special attention to the development of ecotourism for the first time in it history. «We consider it as one of the educational tools to preserve nature for future generations,» added Shmakov.
The Three Volcanoes park project includes Mutnovsky, Gorely and Vilyuchik volcanoes and the adjacent territory. The developers of the project, the Interros group and «Rosa Khutor», believe that by 2037 the park will attract up to 460k of new tourists.
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