MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. By developing tourism projects in Karelia, population of the Kem - White Sea agglomeration will grow by 30% by 2035, reaching planned 32,500 people, the region's Governor Artur Parfenchikov told TASS on sidelines of the Russian Union of Travel Industry's congress at the Rossiya National Center.
According to The Arctic in Numbers - 2025 edition, co-authored by the State Council's Commission on the Northern Sea Route, the Kem - White Sea agglomeration's population by 2035 should make 32,500. Presently, about 25,000 people live there. Thus, the growth over ten years should be about 30%.
"Including by developing tourism, because there are a lot of attractions there, like the White Sea. We are aware of the president's instruction to create a thermal water resort and a hotel complex <...>. With the economy connected with these places, the population will grow," the governor said in response to a question about how population growth in the agglomeration may be achieved.
The governor pointed to promising locations like the White Sea petroglyphs and the Solovki Islands. The region has been developing actively aquaculture, he added.
Karelia's Kem - White Sea agglomeration is on the list of the Russian Arctic's backbone settlements. The cost of its comprehensive development plan is estimated at 16.7 billion rubles ($207 million). The plan envisages the upgrade and construction of necessary transport, road, social, housing and communal infrastructures.
The Russian Union of Travel Industry's 21st congress was held at the Rossiya National Center in Moscow on November 20. TASS was the event's general information partner.