MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS Correspondent Nikolay Kochetkov/. The number of tourists visiting the Russian Arctic in 2025 is forecasted at 1.5 million. The share of foreign tourists who choose Russia's northern regions is also growing every year. In this article we write about what foreign guests find in the Russian Arctic, what makes them feel joyful like children, and whether the Chinese really believe the Northern Lights have a magical power.
Myths about the Northern Lights
The Murmansk Region is the closest Arctic. Travelers from across the world go there to see with own eyes the unique Arctic views, the polar night or the polar day, to swim in the icy water. While Russians are fans of whale-watch trips, foreign tourists, coming mostly from Asia, go to the Arctic for the Northern Lights, blazing in the sky.
"At the sight of the multicolored sky, they scream, squeal loudly, some are crying, others kneel. In fact, they get filled with emotions like children, reacting to everything with wide open eyes and mouths," said Elena Lanova, managing a travel company in Murmansk.
Not so long ago, tourists used to travel to Finland to watch the Northern Lights, but now the Russian Arctic and the Murmansk Region are the most accessible places in the world to watch it, she continued. By the way, it was the Finns, whom she called excellent marketing experts, who came up with the myth that the Chinese believe in the magical power of the Northern Lights.
"At first, the Finns came up with a myth and spread it very well, claiming if a child was conceived under the Northern Lights, the couple will have a boy, but as the time went by, not every couple had a boy, so they came up with the idea that such a child would live a happy life, which, clearly, is more difficult to verify. We liked it very much, and now the Russians are spreading this myth even more than the Chinese are thinking about it. Whenever asked, Chinese tourists get surprised saying they know nothing about that," Elena laughed.
Adventure tourism
Tourism in Chukotka is extreme even for a trained Russian tourist, to say nothing about foreign tourists. In pre-COVID times, foreigners made 90% of all visitors to Russia's most remote region. After the pandemic, the situation has changed and continues to recover gradually.
"Chukotka is a "terra incognita" even for experienced Russian tourists. We now welcome tourists from China, Germany, Bulgaria, and Slovakia: they are interested in life of indigenous peoples, want to see our stunning views, and unique flora and fauna. This is true adventure tourism, which has good future. For example, I had an English tourist who "collects" overnight accommodation in national dwellings. Chukotka has a lot of such offers with a national flavor," said Vladimir Bystrov, a travel company's director.
Photo tours are gaining popularity in Chukotka, especially among Chinese tourists, who are not afraid of high costs, admitting "it cannot be cheap here," given the complex Arctic logistics and the harsh climate.
"Interestingly, their cameras cost a fortune, but they have absolutely no complaints about everyday life, because they know where they are going. To them, the main thing is to make snapshots of whales, walruses and rare birds, and this is what we can offer easily. On the fifth day, our tourists no longer pay attention to whales - who in Chukotka would be surprised to see whales? While on the first day, when the giant tails appear on the left, tails on the right, even stern men in boats squeal with delight, like girls. Those are the emotions for which they are happy to travel thousands of kilometers over and over again," he said.
Arkhangelsk Region's wooden attractions
Tourists from different countries react differently to what they can see in the Arkhangelsk Region, said guide Natalia Drozdova. For example, guests from India, when seeing clean, fluffy, white snow, would carefully take it, blow it off gently and toss it, admiring sparkles in the sun.
A Swiss tourist was overjoyed with a photo session in Russian folk costumes among the green hills on the Pinega River. Most often, foreigners come to Arkhangelsk, the region's capital, where they enjoy the wide river and spacious embankment. Then, they definitely visit the Malye Korely open-air museum, from where they return impressed by wooden pavements, wooden barns and churches.
"One day, guests from China were so impressed by the abundance of wood and the fact that we have wood everywhere - under the feet, on the pavements, and everywhere around, since the houses are also made of wood - that they came up to wooden houses, touched them, saying this is a very expensive material and we must be very rich people, as we can afford building houses of wood. Guests from Asian countries note the silence and our leisurely pace of life, and they really enjoy seeing people who are not rushing. They say having the local population small is very valuable, and the clean air and open spaces are incredible," the guide said.
Arkhangelsk guides add that European guests are more focused on history, exhibitions, museums, and music, such as the Small Hall of the local Philharmonic or the Northern Choir. Tourists from the UK and the USA are interested in icon collections, in particular those presented at the Museum of Arts.
"They would watch admiring, and I think this is because Anglican and Protestant churches do not have such decorations. I can remember a delegation from the Shanghai University - they were amazed at our clean air and the sky that can be seen. The Thais were overjoyed with the snow," a travel company's manager Maria said.
Stalker tourism in Komi
The Komi Region attracts tourists with the atmosphere of frozen time, industrial aesthetics and the opportunity to take unique photographs. "Stalker" tourism is an absolute hit. Visits to abandoned ghost towns such as Halmer-Yu and the Mine near Vorkuta are the main magnets for foreigners," the region's Ministry of Economic Development, Industry and Transport said.
Komi's main Arctic hub is Vorkuta, from where begin all major routes - to the industrial "ghosts" in the tundra and to natural attractions of the Polar Urals.
Another attractive direction is nature tourism and fishing. Heli rides are also popular among guests, who can watch the scale and grandeur of the Arctic landscapes. Flights from Usinsk to the Yugyd Va National Park offer access to most inaccessible and picturesque locations with virgin mountain ranges, crystal clear lakes, the endless taiga, and the Urals Mountains' Queen - Mount Manaraga.
Karelian petroglyphs
The White Sea petroglyphs are another destination popular with foreign tourists visiting the Karelian Arctic. They are unique examples of primitive monumental rock art, dated back to the 4-5 millenniums BC.
A few years ago, along with Lake Onega's petroglyphs, they were put on the UNESCO list. Infrastructures around the petroglyphs are actively developing. Recently, the region has opened a visitor center there, with support from the federal budget. The center features a hotel, a restaurant and exhibition halls. Karelia's Governor Artur Parfenchikov has forecasted the number of tourists may grow to about 100,000 in the coming year.
However, the petroglyphs are not the only attraction in that part of the region. Foreigners enjoy tours with accommodation on the White Sea shores to learn the Pomors' culture and the northern cuisine. "Arctic gastronomy tours or Arctic cuisine is a tasting of dishes from northern sea fish, seaweed, mussels. This has been niche tourism, but it is developing actively. Local cuisine is very interesting for foreign tourists," a local tour operator's representative Oksana Krasnovskaya said.
"Tundra has got everything"
Director of the Korean Cultural Center in the Russian Federation Park Jung-gon has traveled a lot around Russia. He was exceptionally impressed by the tundra in the Nenets Autonomous Region, where he shot documentaries about reindeer herders and even roamed with them.
"There is no tundra in Korea. It was very surprising and interesting to us to learn how people can live in such conditions. We've roamed with reindeer herders for a month and asked why they like the tundra. They replied - there's everything here. What everything? We couldn't understand them. They said, well, maybe with time we would be able to figure it out. It was only a year later that we could realize how rich the tundra is, and it truly has got everything. The main thing there is human happiness," he said.
Since then, he has visited the region many times, admiring the Arctic nature and hospitable people. "They have such a warm heart. And the law of the tundra: they will feed you well first, and only then will ask: "Who are you? Where from?" They help each other, they can't live idly. They need to help others. I invite everyone to visit the Russian north, to see the tundra with own eyes. Anyone, seeking true freedom, must go there," the diplomat stressed.
The future
By the end of 2025, the number of tourists visiting the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone will reach 1.5 million, which is 200,000 more year-on-year, said press service of the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic. The leaders in the number of tourists are the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Yamalo-Nenets Regions. These regions have reported the number of visiting tourists grew in 2024 by 6-10% against the previous year.
Most popular are the Northern Lights hunting, city tours, ethnic villages, dog sledding, Arctic cuisine, boat trips in Teriberka, as well as cruises to the North Pole.
Business residents of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone are implementing more than 150 projects in tourism with investments of 48 billion rubles ($616 million) and 2,600 new jobs. Under the Arctic Hectare program, 18% of those, who have received land plots in the Arctic, use the land for various projects, including to create recreation centers and other tourist service facilities.