The number of tourists visiting the Arkhangelsk Region during the New Year holidays increased by a third compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to more than 20,000 people, the regional centre for tourism and culture development told TASS on Friday.

The Arkhangelsk Region was visited by tourists from Moscow and the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, the Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kirov, Murmansk Regions, Karelia and Komi Republics, Gelendzhik, Novy Urengoy, Blagoveschensk, Khabarovsk, Kursk and Perm.

It is not only the administrative centre of Arkhangelsk that receives attention. For example, over the New Year holidays, tours of the national tourist route named 'Arkhangelsk: Here the Arctic Begins' took place. The Malye Korely Museum-Reserve was visited by 18,500 people during the holiday season, with more than 2,000 visitors on 1 January.

The tourists travelled to Pinezhsky, Velsky and Ustyansky districts, Kargopol and Kenozersky National Park, the towns of Solvychegodsk and Kotlas, and the Yarensk settlement, where the Residence of Mother Winter is located.

On 6 and 7 January, the first stage of the Yuka Fest Ice Mile race was held in the village of Kostinskaya in the Velsky district, attended by more than 1,100 people. A total of 45 racers took part in the event.

On Solovki, the Botanical Garden of Solovetsky Museum-Preserve, decorated with lights and garlands, was the place for festive meetings. On 3 and 4 January, everyone could stroll through the garden and meet Father Christmas and the Snow Maiden, as well as watch a theatrical play programme for children. Kotlas was the point of an inter-regional route—around 700 tourists got to know the town and then went to the birthplace of Father Christmas in Veliky Ustyug.