Mountain hiking, business and ethno-tourism, as well as agriculture in the North Caucasus require active development, Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) Alexander Matovnikov said at a meeting with participants in the 'Russian Routes' project.
"There are two main directions in the North Caucasus: tourism and agriculture," TASS cited him as saying.
Matovnikov emphasized that the main advantage of the tourism industry in the North Caucasus is logistics. He recalled that it will take only 7 hours by car to get from one point in the district to another, for example, from Dagestan to Mineralnye Vody.
The envoy specified that for the main areas of tourism in the North Caucasus Federal District are mountain hiking, business and ethno-tourism.
"We have the highest mountain in Europe - Elbrus, we have the largest mountain range in the Russian Federation, in this regard, we have all the possible variations of alpine tourism: mountain climbing, trekking and horseback trekking tours, skiing, which is now actively developing," the politician listed.
At the same time, Matovnikov acknowledged some problems with the infrastructure of the tourism business in the district, however, he noticed that the situation is "gradually" improving there.
The envoy said that all mountain resorts undergo active development now, in the near future they will be substantially improved, in particular, Mamison (North Ossetia) and Dombay (Karachay-Cherkessia).
As for business tourism, according to Matovnikov, the International North Caucasus Economic Forum will be held in October 2020, the corresponding proposal has already been approved by the President of Russia. The event will bring together participants from near and far abroad, the Middle East, Asia. "I’m sure that business tourism will develop after this economic forum," he said.
"The third direction is ethno-tourism. For example, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria have their own features that are different from others. They have a great culture, laws of hospitality. We have much to show," Alexander Matovnikov assured.
