The Russian tourism strategy: Visiting lesser-known attractions

Russkay, in Kamchatka has great tourism potential. — Photos: Filepic

The remote 1,255km-long Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east is packed with craters, glaciers, volcanoes, thermal springs, bubbling geysers, big brown bears and unique flora and fauna. On the country’s western border with Finland and Norway are pristine snow fields and deep seas with rich aquatic life.

Russian billionaires from Vladimir Potanin and Leonid Mikhelson to Andrey Guryev, Viktor Rashnikov and Viktor Vekselberg are trying to put sites like those on the global tourist map to show the world that there’s more to their country than the Red Square in Moscow and The Hermitage in St Petersburg.