Tourism in Russia’s Altai Republic: Indigenous perceptions

ABSTRACT

The government of Russia’s Altai Republic encourages tourism for local socio-economic development. The year 2020 brought 2.2 million visitors to the Altai Republic, an ecologically pristine but economically depressed region, with a population of just 220,200. Ethnic Russians constitute a majority of the Altai Republic’s citizenry, but Indigenous groups make up 34 percent of the population. Using surveys and interviews, this study analyzed perceptions of tourism among four rural Indigenous groups in 2018–2019 concerning maintaining local culture, improving the standard of living, and preserving the environment. Survey participants generally did not agree that tourism helps them to maintain local culture or to improve the local standard of living, although interview respondents gave positive and negative viewpoints. Both those surveyed and those interviewed expressed overwhelming concern for the preservation of the natural environment and alarm regarding illegal and excessive hunting by outsiders.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnicity
• Altai-kizhi
• Chelkan
• Telengit
• Tubalar
• tourism
• Altai Republic

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to colleagues in the Altai region and at the University of Kansas for their support of this research, as well as to the many individuals who participated in the surveys and interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by a student research grant from the U.S. Fulbright Program for 2018–2019.

Notes on contributors

Ruth Heuertz Remmers

Ruth Heuertz Remmers completed an M.A. thesis with Honors in 2017 in Geography and Atmospheric Science at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. She received a Fulbright grant for 2018–2019 research in the Altai Republic, the Russian Federation. She focuses on regional geography, Russia, and the environment. She also completed an M.S. in Computer Science and an M.A. in Soviet & East European Studies at the University of Kansas.

Anthony D. Ware

Anthony D. Ware received an M.A. in 2023 in Family and Human Services, Addiction Counseling, at Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas. He also completed a B.A.S., summa cum laude, in 2022, at Washburn University.