Talking Barents: Prospects and Formats for Cooperation. Key Quotes

The report was prepared as a result of the event «Russian-Finnish Cooperation in the Field of Sustainable Development in the Arctic Region» as part of the ThinkArctic Project, organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, and the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation.

In this work the Research Centre NAFI studies how Europeans perceive Russia as a tourist destination.

Tourism is one of the sectors most heavily affected by COVID-19. Experts believe that the industry will undergo significant restructuring, with travel abroad giving way to domestic tourism, and trips to places where people don’t gather in large numbers becoming more popular. According to Managing Director of the 21st Century Arctic International Union Valery Korovkin, current circumstances offer a chance to develop a new tourist destination. It is an area that has been discussed for a long time, but which little is currently being done to promote. Arctic tourism is a potentially highly profitable business from the perspective of federal and regional budgets, and has long been successfully exploited by other coastal nations.

The RIAC (The Russian International Affairs Council) report reviews ongoing initiatives to improve marine resource management in the Arctic and offers practical recommendations to design a more effective central Arctic Ocean marine resource management system.