Organization of a Diving Program on the White Sea

Abstract

The article describes a relatively new area of Russian tourist business – diving tourism. Diving, as one of the most powerful tools for rehabilitation offers two efficient options at once: a useful and not always accessible activity in everyday life and contemplation of an especially beautiful underwater world, therefore it can be included in the range of services of tour companies of the world. However, the possibilities of providing such services in the Extreme North of Russia are insufficiently studied and not wide-spread in tourism. Considering the fact that one of the principal factors of Karelian economy, a large part of which belongs to the Extreme North, must be tourist sphere, the region plans to develop active ways of recreation that can also include diving. In this situation, the development of a new tourist product on the White Sea is quite feasible. The history of the origin and development of underwater diving, the specifics of the organization of a diving tour, its development opportunities in the Far North have been considered. Interesting places for diving on the Karelian and Murmansk parts of the White Sea are presented. The program of the tour «Diving on the White Sea» has been developed, intended for implementation on the territory of the Louhsky district, which in addition to dives at interesting points, provides excursions to the biological station, the Panfilov Varaka Canyon, the historical and geological museum «Valitov Kamen». This article will be useful for the development of active types of tourism in the northern territories of the Republic of Karelia.