On Thursday, delegates of an international tourist forum in Naryan-Mar decided to introduce the Accessible Russian Arctic brand for all polar Russian regions, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper reported.

"Specialized agencies of the Arctic regions and business representatives will offer tourist routes due to be included in a tour promotion program," Oleg Safonov, the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism (Rostourism), said. These measures aim to attract more tourists to the region and to sell cheaper vouchers.

Dmitry Solonnikov, the director of the Institute of Modern Government Development, said mass tourism could be a driving force in terms of the development of small businesses. In his opinion, a tour package should not cost more than 100,000 rubles.

Apart from the Accessible Russian Arctic brand, there are other initiatives aimed at attracting more Russian and foreign tourists to northern Russia. Special hopes are linked with promoting ethnic tourism in the Nenets Autonomous Area. Plans also include turning Murmansk into a main cruise liner hub.

The Murmansk Region would receive more tourists if the Government passed a resolution on a 72-hour visa-free regime for foreign passengers aboard cruise liners. During the 2015 summer navigation season, 13 liners with 10,000 tourists aboard docked at the Murmansk port.