By Musa Musaev, exclusively to VK
The NCFD authorities try to carry out an economically ambitious peacemaking project. It is based on natural advantages the region has for tourism development: skiing possibilities, beaches, mineral springs, ethnographic curiosities. All these previously undeveloped resources will be united into a single tourism cluster, and foreign investors have already gotten interested in its potential.
Governmental plan and advices of experts
First step in the implementation of the project was the creation of the ‘Resorts of the North Caucasus’ company with authorized capital of 60 billion ruble worth. Total volume of investments is prized at 450 billion rubles. The state-run head company founded with the participation of two Russian leading banks will coordinate all efforts and investments in the sphere of resort construction and functioning on the North Caucasus.
The project aims to put this depresses region into a competitive position, as its nature potentially allows it to be a center of summer and winter tourism with skiing tracks and sandy beaches. It could become a health center as well due to mineral springs and health high-mountain air.
According to the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President to the North Caucasus federal District Alexander Khloponin, the five new Caucasian ski resorts under the recommendation of foreign investors won’t become a simple imitation of famous French resorts. The resorts will be constructed in accordance with the most modern technological standards.
If all five resorts are constructed, some 200,000 new jobsites will appear in the region and the GDP will be doubled. 7 million tourists a year are expected to go there, and that would turn the NCFD from a subsidized region to an economically sound district.
Local experts say that it is important to combine modern technology and traditional outlook while constructing new hotels. Special attention should be attributed to the restoration of local historical and ethnographical places of interest, as they can also prove to be a great tourist attraction.
Investors
Last year during the global economic forum in Davos Russian and French Presidents signed an agreement on cooperation in the area of tourism. Back than President Medvedev estimated the total price of constructing five resorts in the NCFD in 15 billion dollars. The state is ready to invest 2 billion dollars in the new resorts’ infrastructure, the remaining sum is up to private investors. Medvedev called on Russian millionaires originating from the Caucasus to set an example and invest into the project. However, potential investors are still weighing the risks.
Russian Foreign Ministry participates in the talks aimed to attract foreign investments to the Caucasian project. French ‘France-Caucase’ and South Korean ‘KoreaWesternPower’ companies agreed to participate in the project. German AstorDress&SommerConsrotium also considers the possibility to invest in Russian resorts.
Problems
However, there are still a lot of unanswered questions that could make one doubt the very reasonability of the project. The project totally depends on accurate realization of the governmental NCFD development strategy, which is still not guaranteed.
For example, the very ability of the future resorts to open their doors for tourists depend on the development of the energy sector of infrastructure: for now the North Caucasian republics can’t produce enough electricity to meet even their usual everyday needs.
Another major problem is the problem of transport and accessibility of the resorts: local avia-operators can’t handle a big inflow of tourists. General reconstruction of local airports is needed, which by itself is a big project requiring a great amount of investments. Caucasian highways are for now also in a deplorable state.
And finally, there are no qualified specialists who could handle a 7-million tourist flow to the NCFD.
