MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. Chukotka plans to double the number of visiting tourists within the next two years - to 50,000. The local authorities expect 25,000 visitors in the current year, the region's Governor Vladislav Kuznetsov told reporters at the State Council's meeting on tourism.

"The forecast for [the number of tourists] this year is 25,000," he said. "As for next year, two years, I can see the number of tourists will double, and this is possible thanks to infrastructure developments that I have mentioned, that is, new hotels and glamping. We are also developing logistics."

Chukotka is a unique region that attracts tourists by its natural resources, he continued. "We have the largest nature reserve where guests may watch whales, walruses, magnificent flora and fauna."

The region has been developing both domestic and foreign tourism, he said. However, a shortage of specialists, sufficient accommodation and logistics problems are key aspects that hinder the development. "We have been addressing these issues - both to have accessible the locations we want to present, and the training of specialists - we have started training such specialists this year," he said.

A new hotel, recently built in the city of Pevek, has become one of the "entry points to the region." Another hotel will be built next year in the village of Ugolnye Kopi, near Anadyr, he added.

Tourism development in Arctic regions

Earlier, Valery Vengo, vice-president of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Russian Far East, noted that tourism development in the Arctic should favor preserving the culture of the Russian North's indigenous peoples, which had been lost in the world.

Russia is home to 40 indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. In the Krasnoyarsk Region only, about 17,000 people of eight ethnic groups live mainly on the Taymyr. They are the Nganasans, Ents, Nenets, Evenks, Dolgans, Keto, Chulyms, Selkups. According to the association's representative, ethnic villages could be an option to preserve and promote the culture of the North's indigenous peoples.