Translated material
How much can you mow?
A business plan for the Kaliningrad special tourist zone has been drawn up
In the Kaliningrad region, they calculated how much it would cost to develop a special tourist zone in the local Curonian Spit national park. It is planned to spend at least 7.6 billion rubles for these purposes. from the regional and federal budgets, as well as from extra-budgetary sources.The Curonian Spit is a sandy peninsula 98 kilometers long (the Russian part is 48 kilometers, the rest belongs to Lithuania), with a width of 400 meters to four kilometers. The spit separates from the Baltic Sea a shallow lagoon with highly desalinated water - the Curonian Lagoon. In terms of its size, length, beauty of landscapes, richness of flora and fauna, the Curonian Spit has no analogues among similar formations in Europe - here even the dunes wander and the sands sing.
It is also unique because it has been used by birds for many years as a transit point during migration. More than a hundred years ago, the German ornithologist Johannes Thienemann founded the world's first ornithological station on the spit, which is still in operation. Recently, the scientist’s grandchildren came to the spit; they were especially touched not so much by the operating station, but by the fact that they were going to open a museum in honor of their illustrious grandfather. The spit has many opportunities for both educational tourism and regular beach holidays. In addition, there is a gorgeous forest here, and in some places it is also mysterious - in one area, many pine trees bend in a bizarre way (as if they are dancing) and even twist into rings. There is still no generally accepted scientific explanation for this phenomenon.
Many Kaliningrad (and not only) businessmen and high-ranking officials have acquired villas on the Curonian Spit - having real estate in a national park (how legally it was obtained is a separate question) is considered an indicator of success. Now the regional prosecutor's office is investigating the legality of allocating 70 hectares of land for construction. But there are so many interests tied to the protected land that the efficiency of the investigation is questionable.
All this, in theory, should not become an obstacle to turning the Curonian Spit into a real tourist Mecca. Kaliningrad officials want to ensure that about a million tourists come to the national park every year to relax (for comparison: the entire Kaliningrad region is visited by about a third of this figure per year). According to their plan, vacationers will spend about 7.8 billion rubles here annually.
At the beginning of the year, the Curonian Spit became one of seven Russian regions that received the status of special economic zones of a tourist and recreational type. And in Kaliningrad they began to think about how to manage this status wisely. As a result, it was decided that in the near future it is necessary to build more than 70 hotels on the territory of the national park. In the feasibility study prepared by the regional government for the creation of a tourist and recreational zone on the territory of the national park, it is indicated that Lithuanian experience was used to calculate the needs for accommodation facilities for tourists on the Curonian Spit - neighboring Neringa is visited by about a million tourists a year, with the total number of beds being four and a half thousand. But on the Russian part of the spit there are only 500 places so far. And the regional government decided that it was necessary to fill the missing amount.
Most of all it is planned to build mini-hotels of the two-three star category at the rate of one hotel - 32 beds. There should be 60 such hotels. And 11 more spacious ones, with 60 beds each, with a category of up to five stars. At the same time, the private sector is not discounted. According to government experts, its potential is at least 800 places for tourists to relax. In addition, it is planned to place a children's health camp and an international environmental camp on the Curonian Spit - together they will provide about 600 places.
According to expert estimates, the financial costs for the construction of one square meter of a recreational facility will average 36 thousand rubles. In general, the total area for the construction of the required hotel facilities will be about 115 thousand square meters. Considering that the total area of the national park is slightly more than 6.6 thousand hectares, the required 115 thousand square meters is not so small. Finding such valuable protected land is not easy. Previously, we note, it was said that four large “allotments” would be provided for tourist zone facilities, but recently they have been talking about only two.
Perhaps the Curonian Spit will have to go through a “reassessment of values”: the owners of the current tourist centers (many of which provide services of very dubious quality) may be “asked” - you see, there will be a place for new mini-hotels and inns. Investments in the construction of hotels will amount to at least 4.1 billion rubles. Moreover, all these are extra-budgetary funds.
Money from the federal and regional budgets will go only to infrastructure. A total of 1.8 billion rubles will be required. This money should be enough for the gasification of the villages of Rybachy and Morskoye, the reconstruction of the electrical grid complex, drainage and water supply, bank protection, and the construction of the Kaliningrad section of the Eurovelo international bicycle path. In addition, it is planned to reconstruct almost fifty kilometers of road and equip yacht ports in the village of Rybachy and the city of Zelenogradsk. Moreover, a village port will be more expensive than a city port - 140 million rubles. versus 60 million.
In Rybachy, it is planned to build a passenger terminal with a checkpoint and the main berth complex, engineering infrastructure for servicing ships, facilities for passengers of river vessels and create a system for managing ship traffic in the Curonian Lagoon. In the same village, it is planned to open an indoor water park with money from private investors (approximate investment volume is 900 million rubles). Budget money will be allocated until 2009, and all facilities should be operational in 2012.
So far the region has not received a single penny. The problem is not only that the land issue has not yet been resolved (this is a common problem for all seven Russian tourist zones). All plans for the construction of 71 hotels, yacht ports and water parks are local. And they can be adjusted. The development of the tourist zone will be based not so much on the regional vision, but on the federal one - a special concept developed by German experts from the company Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. They are supported by the architectural bureau Albert Speer & Partner GmbH, the marketing communications bureau Abold, the Academy of National Economy and the Institute for Transition. The Germans visited the Curonian Spit and became convinced that there was not enough free land, and there were a lot of problems with gas, water, electricity and other communications. Their strategy should be ready in September 2007.