TOURIST PERCEPTIONS, BELIEFS, AND EVALUATIONS OF THE ARCTIC: A CASE STUDY OF THE MURMANSK REGION

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Alyona S. Davydova

Barents Centre of the Humanities of the Kola Science Center, Apatity, Russia, a.davidova@ksc.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-7967-5953

Abstract. The Murmansk Region, located on the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic, is actively developing as a tourist destination. However, many aspects related to the marketing and representation of its cultural and natural heritage remain underexplored. The purpose of this article is to examine the image of the Murmansk Region as perceived through tourists’ beliefs, opinions, and evaluations of Arctic-specific attributes — factors that can play a decisive role in destination choice.  The study is based on data from a sociological survey conducted in the city of Kirovsk, one of the region’s major tourist hubs.

The survey results indicate that, for most tourists, the defining feature of the Arctic is its natural environment and associated phenomena. Visitors tend to envision the Arctic as a landscape of harsh climatic conditions — a place to test one’s endurance and spirit. This pursuit of novel experiences is often shaped by prior knowledge and cultural narratives about the Arctic, particularly those involving human confrontation with nature and the conquest of the North. The immersive experience created by the interplay between natural landscapes and cultural elements — including the traditions of local communities and Indigenous peoples — contributes to the formation of a distinctive image of the Murmansk Region within the broader Arctic context. The study’s theoretical contribution lies in providing empirical data that supports an expanded typology of Arctic tourism, incorporating forms such as indigenous ecotourism (involving participation of the indigenous population  in ecotourism activities) and dark sky tourism (travel to low-light-pollution areas for observing celestial objects and phenomena). The findings may be of practical interest to policymakers involved in tourism development in the Arctic, as well as to tourism industry stakeholders. Future research should focus on analyzing tourist experiences across various parts  of the Murmansk Region and on identifying risks associated with increasing visitor numbers.

Keywords: destination image, Murmansk Region, Arctic, tourist experience, tourist perceptions

Acknowledgments: This study was conducted at the Barents Centre of the Humanities of the Kola Science Center within the framework of the state-funded research project No. FMEZ-2024-0002.

The author sincerely thanks the Tourism Committee of the Murmansk Region and, in particular, Deputy Chairperson Irina Ivanovna Bulygina for her invaluable support and thoughtful engagement with the research process.

For citation: Davydova A. S. Tourist perceptions, beliefs, and evaluations of the Arctic: A case study of the Murmansk Region. Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka [The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order], 2025,  no. 2, pp. 164–183. doi:10.37614/2220-802X.2.2025.88.011.

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