Food tourism in the northern regions of the Republic of Karelia

In May the trip to the northern regions of the Republic of Karelia was held in order to study gastronomic tourism facilities. The expedition members visited Rybka cafe (Sopokha village), Medvezhiy ugol (“Corner villge”) tourist camp (Tivdia village), Pushnoy motel restaurant (Pushnoy village) and Kemska volost (“Kemski district”) restaurant at the Prichal tourist complex (Rabocheostrovsk village), Pomorskaya eda restaurant (“Pomors Cuisine”) at the hotel “Gandvik” (Belomorsk), “Malaya Medvezhka” tourist base (Medvezhiegorsk).

During the expedition photo and video shooting were carried and data on gastronomic services of the territories were collected. Project experts Morozova Tatiana and Stepanova Svetlana (Institute of Economics KarRC RAS), Nazarova Olga (OnegoTour LLC) and Gromov Vladimir (project manager, OnegoTour LLC) met with managers and staff of tourist and hotel organizations, restaurants and cafes, discussed the most important issues of cooking technology and the use of local products as well as tasted traditional dishes.

All enterprises demonstrated the high quality services and the willingness to participate in the joint work on their promotion to the tourist markets of Russia, Finland and other countries. Besides, the group visited White Sea rock art (petroglyphs) at the White Sea Regional Museum and discussed plans for the development of this unique tourist attraction.