History of ecotourism in Russia
Amateur, hiking and sports tourism similar to “adventure tourism” in the West was more widespread in the Soviet Union than in any other country. In 1989, more than 20 million people took such trips, most of them young people. After 1990, there was a sharp drop in demand for trips inside Russia, corresponding to the sharp rise in foreign travel. More recently, the government has been trying to promote ecotourism in Russia. The issue was raised during Prime Minister Putin’s visit to Kamchatka in 2010. On Aug. 29, 2011, during the prime minister’s meeting with the Minister for Natural Resources and the Environment, it was decided to allocate 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) for developing 12 priority protected natural territories and to increase funding for the program by an annual 800 million rubles ($26.5 million) until 2020