Kamchatka has opportunity to become tourist Mecca in Asia-Pacific region — deputy PM
It will be one of the most popular destinations in the world if proper infrastructure is built
MOSCOW, July 28. / TASS / Kamchatka has the potential to become a tourist mecca in the Asia-Pacific region, said Deputy Prime Minister and presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev in an exclusive interview with TASS on Tuesday.
"Kamchatka is our natural diamond, it’s a completely unique territory, and there are no others like it in the world. We are absolutely confident that if we can create a normal tourist infrastructure, it will be one of the most popular destinations in the world. In that case, the issues of the region's development and its life go into a different quality, "the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Kamchatka, along with 5 other advanced development areas may be approved along by the Government on the eve of the East Economic Forum, which will be held on September 3-5, 2015, the Minister for Development of the Far East Alexander Galushka reported.
In June, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree approving the creation of the first three areas of priority development, two in the Khabarovsk Territory, and one in the Primorsk Region, named Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk, Nadezhda.
"The Kamchatka site is one of the toughest as far as the economy is concerned. We are trying to organize our work, so that per one ruble of budget funds, we have as many as we can private investment," said Trutnev. According to him, the current multiplier of program development for the Far East works as follows - 1 ruble allocated by the budget, should equal 12 rubles brought in from private investment. "This is a good indicator, but it is three times lower for Kamchatka," Trutnev said.
According to him, the state is ready to stipulate private investment is ready to provide the infrastructure, including the port venue. "If we want people to come to us, we need to make large tourist ships that we could park along the bay. Today, there is no such opportunity, and we are getting involved in creating them," said Trutnev.
He added that the Kamchatka advanced development area has a large volume of capital investment from the budget, estimated at 8 billion rubles ($135 mln) worth of investments.