Tourism from India to Russia's Murmansk Region Soars Nearly 130-Fold in Six Years

Tourist arrivals from India to Russia's Murmansk Region have increased nearly 130-fold over the past six years, Regional Governor Andrey Chibis said.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Andrei Baskevich, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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Chibis said that while only 23 visitors from India traveled to the region in 2019, the number had risen to around 3,000 in 2025.

"During today's meeting, our colleagues particularly noted the region's wonderfully comfortable weather and its extraordinary natural beauty," Chibis wrote.

During a working meeting with an Indian delegation, the two sides also discussed cooperation in a number of different areas.

Earlier, it was reported that Russian families with children flocked to the Murmansk Region for summer holidays in 2026. Bookings for family tourist accommodation between June and August increased by 27 percent.

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Murmansk (Russian: Мурманск) is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of Kola Bay, with its bulk on the east bank of the inlet. The bay, a modest fjord, is an estuarine inlet of the Barents Sea. The city is a major port of the Arctic Ocean and is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the border with Norway, 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the border with Finland, and 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) from Moscow. Being a non-freezing port due to the warm North Atlantic Current, Murmansk resembles cities of its size across western Russia, with highway and railway access to the rest of Europe, and the northernmost trolleybus system on Earth. Its connectivity contrasts with the isolation of Arctic ports like the Siberian Dikson on the shores of the Kara Sea, and Iqaluit in the Canadian Arctic. Despite long, snowy winters, Murmansk's climate is moderated by the generally ice-free waters around it.