Following the results of the ski season 2015/2016, about 130 thousand people visited the all-season resort Arkhyz. 115 thousand visitors used the resort's ropeways — 30% more than in winter 2014/2015. Thus, during the season, the dynamics of visits set during the new year's holidays, when the growth of tourist arrivals was about 30-35% higher than in the same period last year, was preserved.
‘The increase in tourist flow on Arkhyz is due to the growing interest for domestic tourism in Russia, on the one hand, and to the active development of infrastructure of the resort, on the other hand. By this season, we have put into operation the ski infrastructure of the new tourist village of Lunnaya Polyana with a multi-function center, we have built Lunny Express ropeway and three slopes, we have opened an ice skating rink, we have performed the landscaping in Romantic tourist village’, Oleg Gorchev, the Director General of NCR JSC, said.
He noted the important role of investors in the resort in its successful operation in winter 2015/2016. ‘We would like to thank our partners who made the holidays of the tourists in Arkhyz comfortable and memorable. This winter, the resort opened a free-flow restaurant Lunka, ski and snowboard equipment rental centers and instructors school, new hotel Vertical, Coffee Barberry coffee house, which became a legend among our tourists, and a number of other facilities’, he said. In 2016, according to the head of NCR JSC, the residents of the resort plan to invest about 0.5 billion rubles in the development. ‘In particular, a restaurant and entertainment center and cottage settlement shall be constructed’, the head of the company explained.
Oleg Gorchev recalled that social projects have been implemented in winter 2015/2016 in Arkhyz with the support of the residents of the resort. ‘This year we had school lessons in mountain skiing for 400 pupils of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a free ski pass was introduced for a 10-year-olds — and we shall extend this project for the coming season. PikExperience LLC implemented a unique rehabilitation program Dream Ski for those who due to the health conditions could not even think before that one day he/she would try to descend on the ski slopes’, Oleg Gorchev said.
Already since mid-April, the resort will begin preparations for the summer operating mode: all ski slopes and cable cars Lunny Express and Sputnik shall be closed. The lift Mlechny Put will operate in the tourist excursion mode. ‘We are expecting a rope park, bike trails, natural climbing routes, bicycle and segway rental, bureau of horse and hiking trails, as well as sightseeing tours to be launched this summer in the resort. An interesting innovation of summer 2016 will be the possibility to purchase a comprehensive trip to Arkhyz through our partner, the international tourist operator Tez Tour’, the head of NCR JSC noted.
In parallel with the implementation of the summer program, the capabilities of Arkhyz ATRC shall be expanded in terms of winter holiday season 2016/2017. A walking promenade between the tourist villages of Arkhyz shall be equipped, landscaping and renovation of the Service Center in the tourist village Romantik shall be completed, an access road and parking lot in the tourist village Lunnaya Polyana shall be built. ‘By the next season, we also plan to build one more chairlift and to equip a simple slope in Lunnaya Polyana, specially for ski beginners. The avalanche baffle and the landslide protection structures shall be arranged in the vicinity of the Lunny Express ski lift, bypassing of some most challenging areas of mountain slopes with the beams shall be carried out. NCR JSC shall invest the total amount of 1.6 billion rubles in Arkhyz ATRC mountain ski infrastructure development this year’, Oleg Gorchev said.