In Norilsk, hostels Arctic, Hostels Rus and tourist centers Bunisyak on lake Lama and Horizon in Oganer have passed the classification of the services level. For this, federal experts came to the city and assessed the objects of the Arctic tourism cluster.
According to Anna Volkova, a tourism development specialist at the Norilsk Development Agency, the initiative for passing the classification came from the management of these facilities.
“Why these four objects? Because they applied for the classification this year. This procedure is supported by the Business Development Agency of the Krasnoyarsk region. 95 percent of the cost of classification is paid by the Business Development Agency and only five percent – by the participants themselves”, Volkova said.
According to federal law, starting from 2021, hotels will be classified according to a system that provides six categories: five stars, four stars, three stars, two stars, one star, and no stars. Two Norilsk hostels and a tourist center Bunisyak are left without stars but in the future they will be able to qualify for an upgrade if the rooms are equipped with bathrooms.
“We fill out protocols for all rooms. We indicate all the things in the rooms and their quality. Next, we evaluate the entire facility as a whole, the number of rooms, inspect the territory, mark additional services, technical parameters. We evaluate the work of the personnel, job descriptions”, said Lilia Bitkulova, the head of the Stars to Hotels Classification Center accredited organization.
As a result of the work, the experts noted that all inspected objects have a perspective, and the Horizon tourist base can be awarded “three stars”. For this, the director of Horizon was given a number of recommendations.
“The owner was modest and applied for the “no stars” category. We analyzed the situation and saw that Horizon could get three stars. That is, its status is increasing”, said Anna Volkova.
In turn, the director of the suburban complex Aleksey Lupka said that in the future, landscaping will be carried out on the territory of the base, a tent, a rope park, and a stage for events will be installed. And three stars will decorate Horizon in mid-October.
“When we launched in January 2020, a lot was different here. The guests themselves asked us to add something, to remove something. We always listen to the opinions of our clients”, Lupka summed up.
Nornickel allocated an interest-free loan – almost 12 million rubles – for the development of the Horizon suburban complex. This is the largest loan in the history of the World of New Opportunities competition in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Text: Ekaterina Elkanova, Photo: instagram.com/zko_gorizont
