Irkutsk Region authorities have limited tourism on Lake Baikal to 11 places. The list of permitted places has not yet been published

The authorities of the Irkutsk region have approved the Rules for organizing tourism and recreation in the Baikal region . Previously, such rules did not exist; they were developed over a year and a half, the regional government website reports.

The rules establish 11 places where tourists can rest. The government does not specify where these territories are located and whether they affect popular routes . The adopted rules are not yet publicly available.

In June, the Russian president's special representative for environmental protection, Sergei Ivanov, proposed limiting the flow of tourists to Lake Baikal. "If we want to preserve the uniqueness of Baikal and its purity, we need to do something about the flow of people," he said .

• The Irkutsk region is visited annually by over 1.5 million tourists, most of whom go to Lake Baikal, regional authorities reported in 2018.