MURMANSK, November 8. /TASS/. The Murmansk Region forecasts the number of visitors over 2019 will make about 480,000, Deputy Governor Dmitry Filippov told reporters on Thursday, adding the region had attracted many guests from Asian countries.
"Last year, we welcomed 438,000 tourists, and a year earlier - 300,000," he said. "Now [over 2019], we expect about 480,000."
The deputy governor said on sidelines of the Horizons of Arctic international conference in Murmansk that the number of visitors from Asian countries had grown by 50% within one year. According to the region’s expert in tourism Marina Kosheleva, 64,000 foreign tourists had visited the region in 2018.
"As of today, we have registered 39,000 from Asia only: from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and many tourists from India this year," she said.
According to the deputy governor, the region will welcome about 480,000 tourists in 2019, where the Chinese citizens will make "a majority."
"Since the current trend is growing tourist flow into the Arctic, we believe our participation in international exhibitions will be useful," he said. "However, we still have to work hard to make necessary infrastructures, to offer better services and to implement the China Friendly standard for hotels, restaurants."
The regional authorities will also organize PR campaigns to promote local attractions.
"We want to learn how to present ourselves. We have what to show, but we do not know perfectly well how to do it," he continued. "We have organized a visitor center to offer information, consultations to tourists."
The Horizons of Arctic international conference is a key event in the Murmansk Region’s tourism industry, which features leading experts from Russia, India, Vietnam and China.