SYKTYVKAR, March 20. /TASS/. The Komi Region plans to open a new tourist route to a landmark location - the Niya-Yu River Canyon, a nature reserve a few kilometers from Vorkuta. Tourism instructors will test the route this year, Veronika Tretyakova, the idea's initiator, a business resident of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone, told TASS.
"This year, we will make a trial rafting trip to an interesting location - from Lake Estoto we enter the Estovis River, then the Niya-Yu River and pass that Niya-Yu Canyon, an iconic and most beautiful place in Komi. We are currently exploring this route. This year, for the first time, we will travel the route, without tourists, with instructors, because there are categorical crossings and rifts of certain difficulty, so we will try the route," she said.
She is also negotiating an airboat route across the Usu River to the Niya-Yu Canyon. "It is a very high, beautiful canyon. Many people travel to it on their own. Guides from Central Russia bring tourists there, which is quite dangerous, since visiting instructors cannot know everything about our northern region and often face various situations. It has been many times that we had to evacuate people with equipment from there. That's why we want to launch such a route so that people could access these beauties," Veronika said.
Of the existing tourist routes in Vorkuta, the most popular direction is still one to the Kara Sea, and the most convenient and comfortable exit to its coast is from Vorkuta. Very popular are visits to the mountains of the Polar Urals and its most extreme mountain range - the Konstantinov Stone. Travelers also choose trips to Halmer-Yu - to visit the ghost village and waterfalls.
"Our summer season continues is from July to September, and in winter we offer guided tours of Vorkuta and the Vorkuta ring. Tourists are interested in the unique Vorkuta architecture, since most common buildings are in a pompous style here. People are amazed by bas-reliefs and moldings on regular schools and cultural centers. Visitors also want to learn about the history of Gulag, want to see abandoned territories and to try "stalker" tourism," she added.
The business resident has used incentives to purchase equipment to be used in organizing sports and tourist routes in the Vorkuta District and the Polar Urals. Vorkuta now has 16 active business residents of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone and 33 potential residents. Those are companies in the mining industry, transport and logistics, medicine, petrochemistry, food production, construction and agriculture, trade, tourism, and the social sphere, Komi's My Business Center told TASS.
About Arctic business residents
In 2025, ten companies received the status of the Russian Federation Arctic Zone's business resident. They are businesses in Vorkuta, Usinsk, and Inta working in construction, tourism, services and social services, agriculture, and the food industry. One of the new business residents is the first company from the Ust-Tsilemsky District with a milk processing project. The announced investments are at 1.597 billion rubles ($19 billion), and 110 new jobs. The Komi Region's 42 business residents have declared investments of 3.2 billion rubles ($37 million), the center reported.
"The Komi Region has been discussing a number of unusual projects from Arctic business residents - the Usinsky Greenhouse Complex for vegetables in protected soil in the Far North - in Usinsk. Another project is the renovation of the Tomlun cinema house, the only one in Usinsk. An IT company in Usinsk is implementing a project for automatic production control over compliance with industrial and fire safety, labor and environment protection requirements at production facilities," the Center said.
The Usinsky Greenhouse Complex is designed to produce up to 1,200 tons of cucumbers, 570 tons of tomatoes and 420 pots of lettuce and greens. The products will be supplied to Usinsk, Naryan-Mar and neighboring territories. The local authorities have allocated a plot, and investors are working on the design project, the My Business Center told TASS.
The Komi Region's four municipalities out of 20 are part of Russian Federation's Arctic Zone - the cities of Vorkuta, Inta, Usinsk and the Ust-Tsilemsky District, and all other municipalities are territories of the Far North. The regional authorities have been considering an option to add to the list the circumpolar Pechora and Izhma Districts. In 2024, the number of residents grew by 8% - to 37.
In the Komi Region, businesses receive compensation for insurance premiums in the amount of 75% for ten years. Business residents do not pay taxes on property or land, and the income tax is 5% for the first five years of business.