Chinese tourists drive Russian Arctic travel

Chinese tourists were the largest single group travelling to the Russian Arctic National Park in 2017, according to Russian tourism association World Without Borders.

The Russian icebreaker 50th Anniversary of Victory on its way to the North Pole on July 2, 2012. [File Photo: VCG]

According to a report in thepaper.cn, World Without Borders said that 1,142 tourists from 36 countries travelled to the Russian Arctic National Park in the summer of 2017. Of these, 209 were from China, which is 18 percent of the total number of visiting tourists.

Chinese tourists are increasingly keen on traveling to Russia to witness the beauty of the polar regions.

Tourists can travel to the Arctic National Park by sea or on land, although Chinese tourists prefer the sea route. The icebreaker, named 50th Anniversary of Victory, despite prices ranging from 28,000 to 40,000 U.S. dollars, conducted at least one voyage in the year where all 120 tourists came from China to visit the Arctic region.

"All the tourist information provided on the icebreaker is available in Chinese, so we can cater to our Chinese guests. The park also publishes a Chinese language version of its guidebook on the Arctic exploration base," said the spokesperson of the park.

Chinese online travel agency Ctrip revealed in its Chinese Polar Travel Report that the number of Chinese tourists who registered to travel to the polar regions tripled between 2017 and 2018.