What is happening to the tourism industry on Lake Baikal? Chinese tourists go wild on Olkhon Chinese tourists on Olkhon
The small village of Listvyanka, located on the coast of Lake Baikal, has become the center of attention of the Russian media. This started after Baikal was sold to the Chinese. Many newspapers claim that Chinese investors are going to buy the land and make the area a province of China.
Land lease
It is known that back in 2015, one of the Chinese companies located in the city of Zhejiang entered into an agreement regarding the lease of Baikal lands. The agreement envisaged the sale of land for 49 years in advance, with an area of 115,000 hectares, which the Chinese plan to use for their own purposes - for growing rice and other agricultural products.
According to one of the project managers of the Chinese side, all details about the benefits for all partners will be decided after they have established technical side question. However, after the first investment of about 28,000,000 US dollars, intensive deforestation began. All wood was imported in full to China, and deforestation work continues to this day.
In addition, Chinese investors demanded that Putin provide contractual cooperation with a Russian oil company that produces oil in Siberia. After which, Kremlin leaders approved the right to use Siberian lands for the study of fossil resources. And according to local media, the Chinese are buying up territories for future development and they do this several decades in advance.
Water rental
The main task of the Chinese Baikal project is the installation of a water pipeline on the lake, through Mongolian lands, and then through the Gobi Desert. The final destination is the capital of Gansu province - the Chinese suburb of Lanzhou. This project was included as a main point of the 2015 agreement.
The project was developed by Chinese specialists from the Lanzhou District Planning Institute. From a theoretical point of view, this development is quite realistic and no difficulties should arise.
For China, this is a very important project that will help solve the shortage problem. fresh water in the country. The Chinese intend to use about seven percent water resources, which is an unacceptable indicator, given that China accounts for 20% of the world's population.
Beijing investors plan to take leadership positions in market relations that involve sales drinking water, transported from Lake Baikal. In future prospects, they are going to pump out about 2,000,000 tons of water per year. And the trademark “Well of the Earth” has already been patented in many European countries in two languages.
Putin expects to receive a good percentage from the sale of water, claiming that the funds received will be used to restore and develop the infrastructure of the Siberian regions. However, the fact that the Chinese are deliberately buying up land in Siberia suggests the opposite.
Results
Many Russians and residents of Baikal settlements express their dissatisfaction that the lands of Siberia were sold to China. Some are confident that they were given away without thinking, and argue that the Chinese deliberately and openly want to buy up Russian lands, which were once supposedly the territory of the great Chinese dynasty.
According to many journalists from the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, in addition to water and forests, the PRC plans to invest in the following activities:
- processing industry;
- oil production;
- international tourism.
From an environmental point of view, enormous damage could be caused to the forests and coast of Lake Baikal. This is facilitated by the constant destruction of forests, the laying of pipelines and other communications. These places are the habitat of many rare animals and birds, which may disappear during the process of construction and progress. However, neither the Kremlin nor the Chinese government cares about this. If Chinese investors buy most lands, it will be almost impossible to control the situation.
Local authorities convince residents that the resources consumed by Chinese Baikal will not cause significant damage, since the rates of deforestation and fresh water transportation do not exceed environmental standards. And a share of the profit will pay for the damage and part of the funds will be invested in restoring the living resources of Siberia, especially the taiga. Moreover, the authorities no longer plan to sell their territories and are doing everything possible to preserve the environment.
According to Nikita Isaev, the party leader, “ New Russia“, Russian politicians reasonably assess the situation on Lake Baikal and will not allow an environmental crisis. Moreover, the Chinese promised not to compensate for the damage caused, but also to contribute to other Siberian projects that are very beneficial for Russia.
Almost the entire territory around Lake Baikal is a protected area; nothing can be built there. “And in villages and towns, please, you can buy plots, for example in Bugulteyk or Khuzhir,” says travel blogger Anastasia Emelyanova. “No one is stopping you from buying land from local residents and building houses, even if not 20 meters from the water, but also very close. So, in fact, the Chinese ended up on the shores of Lake Baikal, to whom, however, local residents and tourists are quite tolerant and friendly.”
So far, the arithmetic is simple: the money of Chinese tourists, which could go to the Russian budget and work for Russian business, returns to China, and foreign citizens use Baikal water, land and air practically free of charge.
Problems of tourist Baikal
In any case, the main problems of the tourism industry around Lake Baikal are not related to guests from China. Yes, from time to time indignant comments appear on social networks about the fact that our compatriots refuse to check into hotels after Chinese tourists have rested there (they allegedly cook their own food there, the specific smell of which does not disappear from wooden cottages). And the owners of Chinese “hotels” do not pay for garbage removal.
But the same garbage dumps appear in protected areas in much more exactly after Russian tourists, of which in these places there are an order of magnitude more Chinese.
For comparison: over the nine months of this year, about 120 thousand tourists from China visited the Irkutsk region. "This is 10% of total number tourist arrivals in the region, the press service of the government of the Irkutsk region reported to RIA Novosti. — As for waste collection, this is now one of the most intractable problems. As noted at a meeting in the government of the Irkutsk region in June 2017, “the current situation remains extremely tense and requires immediate intervention, consolidation of all available forces and means. The only landfill in the Olkhon region is actually not capable of accepting the accumulated volume of waste.”
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited Baikal in August this year, “the lack of control of the so-called wild tourists leads to spontaneous landfills on the shore and garbage in water bodies,” and “the desire of entrepreneurs to make the most of the demand for Baikal travel often leads to their ignoring environmental standards."
People coming to Irkutsk in the last few years have noted an influx of Chinese tourists. Abundance of signs on Chinese, many sellers of jade and amber souvenirs and all that jazz. And guests of the Angara region, including media persons, having wandered around the center of Irkutsk, having seen enough of the Chinese in Listvyanka and Olkhon, continue to carry the “good news” that Irkutsk has almost been captured by the Chinese.
At the same time, we ourselves understand that no one has captured us, that the signs in Chinese are nothing more than a marketing ploy, we see the Chinese mainly at construction sites and in the historical part of the city, and in general we try to treat this philosophically.
But for the reputation of Irkutsk and Baikal, stories from travelers, coupled with traditional fears, are, of course, more important.
However, a serious information wave today cannot be fueled by stories alone.
About deputies, media and real statistics
We are all accustomed to the fact that statistics are a crafty thing. We are also accustomed to the fact that politicians often lie. But when politicians begin to operate with statistical data, the degree of deceit begins to go off scale, so it is almost impossible to digest it without serious consequences for the psyche. Or is this no longer deceit?
At the beginning of 2018, former State Duma deputy, and now deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region, Anton Romanov, tells the online newspaper “Vzglyad” about the Chinese invasion of Olkhon:
“Last year we had 800 thousand tourists in the Olkhon region, the majority were Chinese. For comparison: the population of Irkutsk is 640 thousand. The budget of the Olkhonsky district is somewhere around 150 million rubles a year. That is, if the Chinese left at least 1 thousand rubles there, then in total there would be 800 million a year.”
We subtract from 800 million 150 million already available in the budget of the Olkhon region, convert to Chinese - and we get approximately 650,000 Chinese tourists who, according to Anton Vasilyevich, visited Olkhon in 2017. Where they came from, where such a crowd could physically fit on the island is completely unclear. But this does not stop Romanov from escalating.
His colleague, State Duma deputy Sergei Ten, in the “Reflection” program dedicated to the Chinese on the Public Television of Russia, as if by chance, casually adds fuel to the fire:
“The Chinese, by the way, predict that the number of tourists will increase annually to almost a million people. And this needs to be taken under very strict control.”
And it is precisely this statement of his that the Internet resource puts in the headline in the Internet version of the conversation. Sergei Yuryevich did not specify where he got such information from.
What do the popular media, for example, say about this?
The portal irk.ru in an article dated June 22, 2017 (random magic of numbers or a well-thought-out media plan?) entitled “China is advancing on Baikal” writes:
“The Chinese began actively buying land and opening businesses in Listvyanka and the Olkhon region when, due to the favorable dollar exchange rate, there was a large flow of tourists from the PRC to Lake Baikal. Last year, 150 thousand visited the Irkutsk region - almost 60% more than in 2015. This season, Irkutsk airport is expected to increase by another 40–50%.”
The inexperienced reader will, of course, swallow the figure of 150,000 Chinese, although there is no reference in the text to the source of this information. Maybe it's an airport, maybe it's not. And, strictly speaking, there is no direct indication that all 150,000 are Chinese. Just read it! And what is very convenient: you can always say that some word just fell out or the employee was illiterate and did not know how to write.
The portal “Baikal-Info” in the article “The Chinese are buying up Irkutsk” decided not to bother searching for information at all, but to refer to abstract guides and give free rein to your imagination:
“According to Irkutsk guides, during the peak season the number of charter flights from China to Irkutsk reaches eighteen per week. Imagine: 18 flights, 160 people on each plane. Relatively speaking, about three thousand Chinese tourists arrive in Irkutsk every week. Plus, many transit groups stop in Irkutsk on their way to Moscow. It turns out that flying from Shanghai to Moscow with a stop in Irkutsk is much cheaper than flying directly. Why not take advantage?
But the funny thing is that it was Baikal-Info that turned out to be closest to a quantitative understanding of the tourist flow from China.
The Teleinform news agency helps to understand the real picture.
According to Ekaterina Lazarchuk, deputy head of the department of permitting and visa work of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Irkutsk Region, in 2015 the number of foreign tourists in the region was about 20.5 thousand, in 2016 - more than 39.5 thousand. And this is the total number, which takes into account everyone: Koreans, Germans, Japanese, Americans, and God knows who else. How many Chinese are there? And in 2016 there were only 26 thousand Chinese, or 66% of the total number of foreign tourists who visited the Angara region.
As they say, feel the difference: 1 million, 800 thousand, 150 thousand and 26 thousand.
To be fair, it must be said that the flow of Chinese is growing very quickly. According to data announced at a meeting of the tourism committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Irkutsk Region by the head of the visa processing department of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Elena Dynkina, in the first eight months of 2018, 132 thousand Chinese visited the Irkutsk region, which is 40% more than in 2017. m. But this figure is far from the million that Sergei Ten frightened. But can it really turn into a million?
Growth limits and risks for tourist flows from China
Despite the phenomenal growth rate of tourist flow from the Middle Kingdom, it obviously cannot grow indefinitely. This was discussed back in 2015, when the flow of tourists from China increased significantly for the first time – by as much as 30% compared to 2014. Then CEO travel company“Baikal-Complex” Yuri Nemirovsky expressed the opinion that “the Chinese direction has almost reached the ceiling of possible growth and is now limited not by demand, but by the shortage of inexpensive accommodation facilities and places on charters.”
This is why the Chinese are trying to build in Listvyanka, this is why projects such as a large international resort in Baikalsk are appearing, and so on. And if we ourselves do not make very serious efforts to attract the Chinese to Baikal, they simply CANNOT COME TO US.
How seriously the tourism sector of the Irkutsk region is preparing to receive Chinese guests can be judged by the remark of Alexey Kalachev, an expert analyst at the Finam holding: “Negative changes are occurring in the business structure, says Alexey. - This trend also applies to tourism-related enterprises. As of January 1, 2017, there were 759 legal entities operating in the tourism sector in the region. At the same time, during the year 73 new legal entities were registered and 75 were liquidated. Dynamics - minus 0.26%. Hotels and restaurants: 1433 legal entities, 123 registered, 188 liquidated, dynamics - minus 4.75%.”
However, the tourist flow from China may dry up and not reach the maximum indicators if the ruble exchange rate against the yuan suddenly changes - and it will simply become unprofitable for the Chinese to vacation in Russia.
“I believe that there is no strategic process that can be formulated that we are being occupied by the Chinese,” says State Duma deputy Mikhail Shchapov. – There is economic feasibility, and at the moment Chinese tourism on Lake Baikal became profitable. The exchange rate difference, the enrichment of China, their standard of living there has increased greatly - and they have become interested in traveling around the world. Baikal is an interesting and accessible point for them.”
It turns out that the “arrogant Chinese” are simply trying to create the necessary infrastructure for a vacation on Lake Baikal for us, actually risking their money. Here are the occupiers!
“Doshirak”: just add Baikal
So who, and most importantly - why, is hanging “Doshirak” on our ears that the Chinese are about to drink up Baikal, trample down the entire forest and will not give us any life near the “North Sea” at all?
The peak of materials about the dominance of the Chinese on Lake Baikal occurred in 2017. At the same time, the famous petition appeared on the Internet to protect Baikal from the Chinese, which was signed by more than 100,000 people. And it was then that the Baikal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office was created. Which, in general, can be considered an ordinary coincidence, or it can not be considered. Sergei Ten on OTR, before revealing secret plans for Chinese expansion, spoke very flatteringly about this decision:
“The specifics are so complex, and so is environmental legislation, that we need to deal with this more professionally than law enforcement agencies are doing now. Therefore, I think that, firstly, this needs to be done so that the prosecutor’s office works more actively, more efficiently, namely the Baikal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office. I think this is absolutely the right decision."
Already in 2018, an active process of land acquisition began within the boundaries of the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory and the Pribaikalsky National Park. By April, 46 cases were being heard in the courts. Most of the law-abiding Russian citizens who came under attack from the law enforcement system were the owners of popular hotels on the coast of Lake Baikal.
However, the Chinese also got it, but in the second place. In April 2018, a criminal case was opened against the head of Listvyanka, Alexander Shamsudinov, on suspicion of exceeding his authority when issuing construction permits. And in August there were demonstration raids by bailiffs on construction sites Chinese hotels In the village, however, someone managed to warn the Chinese. Therefore, it is not entirely clear how this story will end and whether the Chinese will be expelled from Listvyanka.
Afterword
Now, in my opinion, it is becoming obvious that all the hysteria about the Chinese invasion was a carefully planned action and media support for certain management decisions.
It is clear that if we take the development of tourism on Lake Baikal seriously, a million tourists a year is a small, but still a good figure, which we should strive for provided that potential tourist destinations are increased, roads are built, sewage treatment plants are launched, and so on. But for this we need to work very seriously and invest in Baikal, including at the state level. A corresponding attempt was made when a special economic zone of the tourist and recreational type “Gates of Baikal” was created. But this project stalled. In 2016, the government threatened to close down ineffective SEZs, but then simply transferred them to the regional level, where they apparently should have quietly died. This happened in the Irkutsk region. At the same time, the Federation seemed to have lost interest in the development of tourism on Lake Baikal.
It turned out not really. The state has taken the path of tightening regulation, effectively beginning the redistribution of property on Lake Baikal. And all the anti-Chinese hysteria, which began to gain momentum after 2016, is more like a cover operation.
If only because, despite all the hype around the “Chinese invasion,” any attempts to actually support at the legislative level the interests of Russia and the Russians in the dispute with the Chinese have so far ended in nothing. Which puzzled the same Mikhail Shchapov, who was working in the State Duma for the first time:
“We have all the competitive advantages in our territory to seize the initiative,– Mikhail Viktorovich shares his pain. – Here we just need to take a systematic approach, from the point of view of legislation, perhaps get ahead of ourselves a little, for example, limit the activities of foreign uncertified guides and interpreters. This issue was raised at the Federation level, but apparently there is some kind of lobby there, because such an obvious thing did not pass. Or here's a very simple way. I personally made the following amendment regarding Crimea: let’s also take money from foreign tourists on Lake Baikal. This, I was told, is contrary to the Constitution, and it is impossible to distinguish between the rights of our citizen and a foreign citizen.”
Of course, such an approach, in which the state, while protecting its citizens in words, actually cuts the ground from under their feet, can hardly be called completely state-based. We will soon see how well it will justify itself. Well, those who fell under the wheel of bureaucratic fortune can only sympathize.
What about the Chinese? The situation with the nightmare of Chinese business, even through the media, and even more so through the courts in the absence of clear laws, does not add respect to the Russians in the eyes of the Chinese. And it definitely works against friendship and any alliance with the PRC. And this seems to hint at the political orientation of those who are launching this wave on Lake Baikal today.
In fact, we have no chance of taming the Chinese dragon unless we learn to deal with the dragon within ourselves and within our country.
Artyom SvetovostokovIrkutsk couloirs
In the Olkhon district, local residents continue to discuss the emergency that happened in late July 2017. At the same time, regional authorities, through law enforcement agencies, are taking all measures to ensure that information does not spread.
Let us remind you that on July 29, the third ferry to Olkhon, Semyon Batagaev, was out of order. The breakdown occurred at the height of the tourist season, as a result of which the queue on the island instantly grew to 700-800 cars.
Considering that the Dorozhnik ferry transports only local residents and Shuttle Buses, only the Olkhon Gate ferry remains for tourists. Tourists, stuck in line for several days, in the heat and without any service, naturally became nervous and tried by any means necessary to get on the ferry.
Antonina Sizikova, the daughter of the captain of the Olkhon Gate ferry, helped the sailors arrange their cars on the ferry. According to the rules of ferry transportation, cars are arranged first, and only then passengers on foot are allowed on board. These are obvious safety requirements.
However, the moment the cars began to load onto the ferry, a huge crowd of Chinese tourists, arriving on several buses, literally began to storm the ferry.
Let us remind you that Chinese hotels located on Olkhon, back in 2016, created a fairly convenient way to transport tourists from the Middle Kingdom. Large buses bring them to mainland crossings, tourists cross the strait on their own, and on Olkhon they are met by minibuses belonging to hotels. As a result, Chinese tourists practically do not linger at the crossing, since there are no restrictions on the number of foot passengers on the ferry.
The crowd of Chinese who poured onto the ferry actually blocked the passage of cars. Antonina Sizikova ordered not to let the Chinese in until all the cars were loaded. In response, one of the Chinese began to beat her with a stick, after which the rest of the Chinese began to beat her with their fists.
The ferry captain, Sergei Sizikov, came down to help the girl. However, the Chinese beat him too.
The girl was beaten in front of a police patrol ensuring security at the ferry crossing. Subsequently, when asked why they did not intervene in the fight, the police calmly replied that their task was to ensure order on the shore, and not on the ferry.
Immediately after the incident, Sergei Sizikov was fired without explanation. He worked on the ferry for 38 years, from the very first ferry designed for two cars, and is considered one of the most experienced captains on Lake Baikal.
All attempts by the Sizikov family to file a complaint with the police are blocked by the authorities. The family is also being intimidated by Chinese hotel owners who do not want publicity. The situation is completely incomprehensible, as are the actions of Chinese tourists on Lake Baikal in general.
The fact is that due to the influx of tourists to Olkhon Irkutsk region doesn't get a penny. The hotels are owned by Chinese citizens and are designed like garden houses. Tourists pay for transportation, service and accommodation directly to the card of the hotel owner, thus the entire flow of money bypasses the Russian budget. Meanwhile, Chinese tourists feel like masters on Olkhon and regularly get into fights with local residents. By the way, the hotel charges about five million rubles from one group of Chinese. Not a penny is paid in taxes.
The situation is aggravated many times over by the fact that there is only one (!) local police officer on Olkhon. The island has an area of 730 square kilometers, a population of about two thousand people and hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.