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One in five tourists to Murmansk Region comes from China

The main attraction with Chinese tourists is the Lenin icebreaker, which is moored at the Murmansk sea port and functions as a museum

© Lev Fedoseyev/TASS

MURMANSK, December 17. /TASS/. The number of tourists from China to the Murmansk Region has grown to 16,000 people in 2019. Every fifth visitor comes from China, the region’s Deputy Governor Dmitry Filippov said on Monday.

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Murmansk Region plans to open 5 new visitor centers

"Most foreigners come from Asia, and among the Asian countries the major growth in the number of tourists is recorded by China (40%) to more than 16,000," he told the regional government.

Over the four years, the number of foreign tourists in the region has soared 2.5 times — to 67,000 people from 27,900 in 2015.

Most tourists gravitate to the ski resorts, first of all to Kirovsk that lies at the foot of the Khibiny Mountains. Also popular are the Saami village, the Lapland nature reserve with the residence of Father Frost (the Russian version of Santa Claus), the Teriberka village on the Barents Sea, and the Snow Village in Kirovsk. The main attraction with Chinese tourists is the symbol of the Soviet era — the Lenin icebreaker, which is moored at the Murmansk sea port and functions as a museum.

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