OREANDA-NEWS. April 01, 2015. Let’s discuss Sochi’s development after the Olympics, primarily its alpine resorts.

The first season’s results are not bad at all and disprove pessimistic forecasts.

Sochi is making the most of the considerable number of facilities built there, primarily for tourists. The main sports facilities have also been put to use.

About a dozen high-level sports competitions – both domestic and international – have been held in the mountain cluster where athletes competed in various Olympic events. Sochi has now become not only a summer spa but also a winter resort. In fact, it’s our main winter resort, and has become a modern recreational place for every season. It has wonderful infrastructure, including roads and hotels.

In 2014, over 5 million tourists visited Sochi. The number was about 4 million, not including the Olympics. In summer, hotels had 100 per cent occupancy rates.

Apart from the sea, tourists come for the alpine tracks.

The mountain cluster saw a real boom early this year and during the Christmas holidays. There were huge lines for chairlifts, and hotels could not accommodate everyone. The high demand is a hint that the alpine resort should be expanded. The relevant projects have been drafted, but before starting to build more infrastructure we should come to terms with several issues related to environmental regulations.

The resort borders a national park that is protected internationally as a natural resort, which includes natural sites of federal significance. We must decide how to use it.

Parts of the plots for new projects could be located in the park’s recreational area.

Understandably, such projects might be used for tourism purposes according to environmental legislation.

Let’s discuss these issues and, if need be, draft amendments to the legislation related to several property issues – transferring land for lease, rezoning, etc. Now, experts are working on a draft law in line with several Government instructions.

In order to develop Sochi’s alpine resort (and it should be developed for domestic and foreign tourists), we must assess all possible consequences, arrange adequate monitoring, choose the most rational work patterns buttressed by regulatory acts (operating or newly-adopted) and, of course, a relevant and efficient finance system.