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Tourism industry plays important role in economy of Altai territory

If the number of tourists amounted to 200,000 people in Altai in 2006, their number exceeded 1.5 million people for nine months of this year, Vice-Governor Shchetinin said

SHANGHAI, November 15 (Itar-Tass) — The tourism industry plays an important role in the economy of the Altai Territory, Vice-Governor of the Altai Territory Mikhail Shchetinin told Itar-Tass at the China International Travel Mart CITM-2012, which opened in Shanghai on Thursday.

“Altai is one of most dynamically developing Russian regions in terms of tourism, and we are frequently compared with St. Petersburg in this indicator. This is a pleasant fact, but this imposes major obligations on us,” he remarked.

If the number of tourists amounted to 200,000 people in Altai in 2006, their number exceeded 1.5 million people for nine months of this year, Shchetinin said.

The vice-governor noted the unique nature and ecology in the territory and its rich cultural and historical heritage. Shchetinin noted that the regional government is working actively on the development of the infrastructure. “Today a special tourism recreation zone Biryuzovaya Katun is being created in our territory, hotels, Alpine ski resorts are being built actively,” the deputy governor remarked. “Now the Altai Territory can accommodate about 60,000 guests at the same time,” he pointed out.

The tourism share in the Altai GDP makes about 1.2%, but “it will be increased,” the deputy governor noted. “We set such a high growth in the number of tourists in order to attract about 3.5 millions of holidaymakers by 2025,” he underlined.

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