Russia - Arkhangelsk Region

A study in the Arkhangelsk Region shows that half of the surveyed companies are familiar with the Barents Region. The companies have experience of joint  international and interregiona tourism projects. Interest in cooperation, more contacts to exchange information and making the Russian North more popular exist. Acquiring more knowledge about the Barents Region will lead to higher motivation for partnership in tourism.

• The Arkhangelsk Region express their interest in partnership and cooperation with counterparts in Norway, Finland and Sweden.
• Cooperation can be focused on joint projects aimed at finding the needs of the European North tourism market, promising kinds of tourism, marketing research, establishing the joint brand of the Barents Region, exchánge of experience and practices of tourism product developing and marketing, area infrastructure development and planning and offering the joint travel itinaries.
• Launch of a joint travel portal of the Barents Region with a database of its tourism companies could become an effective tool for finding partners and promoting project ideas.
• An annual international tourism forum of the Barents Region can become a good channel for sharing the best practices, exchanging experience, searching for partners, offering new projects.

Regional authorities coordinate tourism development in the Arkhangelsk Region, its promotion at the national and international tourism markets. In order to facilitate international cooperation in tourism the responsible departments should advance the following activities: consulting and information assisting of companies willing to enter the international markets administrative support, material incentives as cofinancing from the national  and regional target programmes, covering some expenses of international exhibitions and forums participants, promoting investment projects, searching for sponsors, information and advertising support, holding international seminars, conferences, forums, providing joint and overseas enterprises with favourable business conditionsincluding tax breaks and business incubators.

It is advisable for authorities to pay attention to forming the regional demand for tourism personnel training, that is, meeting the employers' needs in highly qualified personnel. The public HR policy should be based on social partnership of the state, the society, business and educational establishments in training personnel for tourism.

In order to provide complex solution to the existing challenges and problems in tourism Joint Working Group on Tourism in the Barents Region (JWGT) should cooperate effectively with BEAR working groups on economic cooperation, investment,  transport and education. Activities of JWGT as the inter-goverment and inter-regional coordinating body in the Barents Region should be more pragmatic and aimed at attaining the following results: initianing, planning, finding financial support and coordinating a joint travel portal of the Barents Region; holding an international tourism forum of the Barents Region at least once in two years (rotating the place and the responsible organization depending on the chairing country in JWGT), supporting promising international projects, supporting networking and financing tools identification, arranging international training seminars and training courses for the business.