Arctic Tourism in the Barents Sea Region: Current Situation and Boundaries of the Possible

• Published in: Arctic and North
• Main Author: Dmitriy V. SEVASTYANOV
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Northern Arctic Federal University 2020
• Subjects: arctic; tourism; barents sea region; recreational nature management; icebreaking fleet; regulatory factors; Social Sciences; H; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.37482/issn2221-2698.2020.39.26; https://doaj.org/article/23928256b6334ed9bd5f375f23b863fd

The article discusses current trends in the development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) and the peculiarities in the Arctic tourism organization. Over the past ten years, the geography of recreational nature management and international tourism in the Russian Arctic has significantly expanded. Among all the northern countries, Russia has the longest coastline in the Arctic and the largest sector of the adjacent shelf and waters of the seas of the Arctic Ocean (AO). So, its current economic and political interests in the polar zone are apparent. However, compared with neighboring Arctic countries, in the Russian Federation, for several reasons, the potential of Arctic tourism is far from being fully utilized. Natural and anthropogenic factors regulate its further development. On the example of actively developing cruise Arctic tourism in the Barents Sea region, the existing problems, and prospects of the possible development of tourism in the Arctic in current conditions are discussed. Based on the analysis of sources available on the modern development of Arctic tourism in general and in the Barents Sea basin, in particular, the author made conclusions about the factors limiting the growth of Arctic tourism in the Russian Federation.