Almost the entire territory around Lake Baikal is a nature reserve, nothing can be built there. “And in villages and settlements - please, you can buy plots, for example, in Buguleika or Khuzhir,” says travel blogger Anastasia Yemelyanova. “Nobody bothers to buy land from local residents and build houses, even if not 20 meters from the water So, in fact, on the shores of Lake Baikal, the Chinese ended up, to whom, however, locals 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 still not related to guests from China. Yes, from time to time outraged comments appear on social networks about the fact that our compatriots refuse to stay in hotels after they have rested there. Chinese tourists(they allegedly cook their own food there, the specific smell of which does not erode from wooden cottages). And the owners of Chinese "hotels" do not pay for garbage collection.
But the same garbage dumps appear in protected areas in much more exactly after Russian tourists, who in these places are much more Chinese.
For comparison: in the first nine months of this year, the Irkutsk region was visited by about 120 thousand tourists from China. “This is 10% of the total number of tourist arrivals in the region, - the press service of the Irkutsk region government told RIA Novosti. - As for waste collection, now it is one of the most intractable problems. 2017, "the current situation remains extremely tense and requires immediate intervention, the consolidation of all available forces and means. The only landfill in the Olkhonsky District is actually unable to receive the accumulated volume of garbage. "
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited Lake Baikal in August of this year, "the lack of control of the so-called wild tourists leads to spontaneous dumps on the shore and garbage in water bodies," and "the desire of entrepreneurs to make the most of the demand for Baikal travels often to environmental standards ".
Subjective observations of the Baikal guide-photographer.
Even though now I do not live on Baikal itself, but 6-7 months a year I am there. Working as a guide, on my own photo expeditions, just visiting, on tours with my guests as photographers. So, I'm cooking in this soup.
The situation with the tourist business on Lake Baikal is very strange.
Several problems converged on one point. Chinese tourist expansion, an attempt by law to reduce the water protection zone of Lake Baikal, the explosive growth of anthropogenic load on small areas, the problems of toilets in the winter on ice and throughout the year on the shore, when the most beautiful grottoes of Olkhon get littered by the very "I do not want", traditional garbage, inspections tourist centers with their subsequent closure, incomprehensible "assaults" on Russian guides by law enforcement officers.
Petitions are signed, sent to various state. structure of the letter, complaints are written to the prosecutor's office. But the mess is only gaining momentum.
According to the Chinese.
Until three years ago, the number of Chinese tourists was small. Of course, due to their national characteristics The Chinese groups stood out because of the noise, din and dust they generated. In 2015-16. Chinese tour operators have begun to actively enter the tourist business of Lake Baikal. They turned to Irkutsk and other Russian tour operators with tour orders. Many began to rub their hands, they say, here it is, happiness. Now there will be a flow of money, we will live gloriously and richly. But you need to know the psychology of the Chinese. They are rigidly focused on getting the maximum benefit for themselves. They will be friends with you if you are irreplaceable at some stage of the business process. While irreplaceable. Due to hellish working capacity and the ability to learn, over time, the Chinese partner will change you for his own, whom he will teach-teach everything that you can do. They watch, observe, instruct their people who learn from you, making your participation in the business process no longer necessary. And at one point you are in flight. That's it, you are nothing for your Chinese brother-brother, with whom you were already close friends, made plans and enjoyed the prospects. Now a Chinese man is taking your place.
This is what happened with Russian tour operators. At one point, they were overboard. Having quickly mastered, the Chinese created their own travel agencies (through dummies and zits-chairmen). These firms have their own Chinese personnel, often working in Russia illegally, their buses, their guides, their hotels and camp sites, their ships, their shops for tourists. Our southern neighbors have a lot of money. And they are ready to invest them in what is profitable now. And in Siberia, tourist business on Lake Baikal is profitable. By the way, it should be noted that this alignment also exists in other tourist attractive places. Now the Chinese are sending their Cossacks to Kola Peninsula... There is already a stream of groups. While through Russian tour operators. But for now ...
And naturally, almost all the money stays in China. The Chinese travel in groups. The percentage of individual tourists from China is extremely small. They buy tours in China. The money that tourists spend in stores (furs, cosmetics, jewelry, honey and its components, souvenirs) also goes to China. Believe me, a Chinese businessman knows how to minimize costs in foreign territory and direct cash flow home.
An example from my practice. In the fall of 2016, a wave of calls from the Chinese went to Irkutsk tour operators. We urgently want to order photo tours for Chinese groups of photographers! Tour operators began to fiddle with photographers working in similar programs around Lake Baikal. They called me too. And I confess I fell for the bait. I made programs, sent them and waited for calls, saying that it was time to pack things and go with a photo guide with Chinese groups... But all were in flight. The Chinese collected high-quality and detailed programs and took their own groups with Chinese "photo guides". What a Chinese photo tour looks like is a separate story. Thank God that the Chinese still do not have enough traction to properly implement spizhzhenny programs. Well, to hell with them. All the same, making a high-quality and effective photo tour on Lake Baikal is not an easy task. For those who are not in the subject - this is unrealistic. But the Chinese already know how to drag groups of 12 people in formation, led by the "chief photographer", lining them up in a line on the spot in the direction it is not clear where.
At the same time, neither the tour operators nor the tourists themselves are worried about the state of the environment, garbage and other "nonsense". Also, Chinese tourists are not interested in either the history or culture and traditions of the place of visit (well, not only the Chinese are guilty of this). "Must have" photos, contemplation of landscapes, yelling a song at dawn on a shaman woman, drinking in the evening in a hotel or at a tourist center. Although, in principle, ordinary tourists. Only very noisy and waste generating.
By the way, about the flexibility of Chinese business. Due to the huge flow of Chinese for the ice Baikal season, they have a lot of bells and whistles for such trips. Very high quality "ice drifts" for shoes, chemical warmers for smartphones and cameras and a lot of other little things. In this they are great! Although every time, this year, coming to Shamanka and other places, I took with me in a garbage bag a dozen or two used heating pads, which after working out are simply thrown on the ground or ice.
Why is there such a demand for the Baikal direction in China? Why is the Chinese tourist flow turning into a very aggressive expansion?
There are several reasons. The main one is ideological. The Chinese, for the most part, consider Baikal their northern sacred sea. And that's it. In the fall, I did a tour for a photographer from Israel, and our program included a trip on a locomotive along the Circum-Baikal Railway. There were three of us. Opposite us, in fourth place, was a young Chinese boy. Almost all the way (and the trip along the Circum-Baikal Railway lasted more than 10 hours) he sat and read some book. Well, I went to the toilet, had something to eat, went out in the parking lots to look down at the carriage. And that's all. Already before the port of Baikal, we asked him. Isn't he interested in nature (the golden Baikal autumn was floating outside the windows of the carriage), beautiful views? He replied no. His parents bought him a tour to Lake Baikal. Because he must, like any normal Chinese, visit Great wall and at Baikal. "Must have" and nothing personal.
Transport accessibility and cheapness (by Chinese standards) of tours to Baikal. There are flights to Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude from China and Mongolia (many groups call in from Mongolia), there is a railway connection. Chinese expansion takes place in places where roads lead. I will not say anything for Buryatia, but in the Irkutsk region these are Listvyanka, Circum-Baikal Railway, Olkhon. For some reason, there are almost no Chinese tourists on the mainland of the Small Sea, except for the "stray" tourists who came from the Island as part of the excursion. The construction of a normal road to B. Goloustnoye also opened this place for the Chinese. Those. where there is a road to Baikal - wait for Chinese tourists, Chinese hotels and tourist centers.
Lack of legislative regulation of the tourist flow to Baikal. Yes, specially protected natural areas severely restrict the possibility of visiting them. Especially with large groups of tourists. And the whole stream falls into those places where there are no such restrictions. I am not calling for the opening of protected areas. It is necessary to regulate the flow of tourists to other territories of Lake Baikal. The state must decide. Baikal is unique natural object, requiring security or a tourist site to scoop up money.
In places of huge tourist flows (in a small tract Uzury on Olkhon, almost 100 UAZ loaves were counted in one day at a time. At least 700 people were simultaneously in Uzury, in the Haga-Yaman Bay and the surrounding grottoes!) There are no toilets. All srach ends up in grottoes (for which they are going). Yellow spots on the snow, spent heating pads, other debris - do not add beauty and do not bring benefits to Baikal.
Early morning at the office of the national park on Olkhon. The first UAZ vehicles arrive for permits to visit Khoboy. 
Yes, organizing toilets and garbage collection and disposal will solve the problem a little.
The main thing, without which toilets and garbage collection points are ineffective, is a special service that monitors the order and frequency of tourist routes... For example, as in US national parks, Visitor Use Assistant, guides, rangers, auxiliary workers. We have wonderful guides on Lake Baikal, but they work with scattered groups, independently or from tour operators. And with PAs, there is often not just interaction, but also mutual understanding. Our guides are more interested in preserving Lake Baikal than anyone else.
What else is happening lately. In the fall, a large-scale audit of tourist centers and hotels by various supervisory authorities took place. Various orders were issued, some of the bases were closed or promised to close in the near future. Claims were filed.
The most interesting thing is that this movement did not affect large hotels and tourist centers, incl. and Chinese. Weird?
At the height of the winter season, law enforcement officers suddenly showed a passionate interest in the Russian guides. They stopped buses, checked the docks for groups. Moreover. often, this was done by traffic police officers. V international airport Irkutsk, guides meeting their groups with signs, the airport security service took them to a separate room, where they arranged "conversations" that looked more like interrogation. But the Chinese guides (among whom almost all are illegal) were not touched. Why?
Fuss over changes in the water protection zone of Lake Baikal? For what? To legalize camp sites and private buildings and plots already built illegally and illegally? For whom?
In the fall, with the supply of the GDP, the movement for the construction of a road on Olkhon began. It is clear that this is a lot of money that needs and can be cut. I will not say anything about the expected quality of the road. But is an asphalt road from the crossing to Khuzhir really needed? What will be more good or bad? What damage will the construction itself cause to the nature of Olkhon? Now there is a road, a terrible stone comb. She somehow restrains then the tourists-motorists. Will asphalt add hundreds, if not thousands of cars to the tourist flow on Olkhon?
In order for the current gravel road to be in good condition, it is enough to simply maintain it. Top up and grader regularly. And without the huge financial costs that could reasonably be spent on creating a normally working common tourism infrastructure on Olkhon. On the organization of trails and routes, on the creation of appropriate services of guides and rangers, on the organization of toilets and the removal of waste to the mainland. In fact, this travel money can be spent with great benefit. But something is wrong again in the Danish kingdom.
In fact, one gets the impression (not only for me, but also for many of my fellow guides) that someone comes to Baikal, first of all to Olkhon, with a lot of money in order to crush the tourist business for themselves. Drive out small tourist businesses, private carriers, guides from the market. Taking into account the peculiarities of the national business and the presence of Chinese players on the Baikal tourism market, all the most interesting is yet to come!
The small village of Listvyanka, located on the coast Baikal lake, became the center of attention of the Russian media. It started after Baikal was sold to the Chinese. Many newspapers claim that Chinese investors are looking to buy land and turn the area into 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 on the lease of Baikal lands. The agreement provided for the sale of land for 49 years in advance, 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 leaders of the Chinese side, all the details about the benefits for all partners will be decided after the technical side of the issue is settled. However, after the first investment in the amount of about US $ 28 million, intensive deforestation began. All timber was imported to China in full, and deforestation work continues to this day.
In addition, Chinese investors have demanded that Putin contractual cooperation with a Russian oil company that produces oil in Siberia. After that, the leaders of the Kremlin approved the right to use Siberian lands for the study of fossil resources. And according to local media reports, the Chinese are buying up territories for future development and are doing it for several decades in advance.
Rent of water
The main task of the Chinese Baikal project is the installation of a water pipeline on the lake, across 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 the main clause of the 2015 agreement.
The project was developed by Chinese specialists from the Lanzhou District Government Planning Institute. From a theoretical point of view, this development is quite real 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 figure, given that China occupies 20% of the world's population.
Investors in Beijing are planning to take a leading position in market relations, implying the sale of drinking water transported from Lake Baikal. In the future, they are going to pump out about 2,000,000 tons of water per year. The Well of the Earth trademark has already been patented in many European countries in two languages.
Putin expects to receive a good percentage of the sale of water, arguing that the funds received will go to the restoration and development of infrastructure in Siberian regions. However, the fact that the Chinese are deliberately buying up land in Siberia suggests otherwise.
Outcomes
Many Russians and residents of Baikal settlements express their dissatisfaction with the fact that the lands of Siberia were sold to China. Some are sure that they were not given away deliberately, and argue that the Chinese purposefully and openly want to buy up Russian lands, which were once allegedly the territory of the great Chinese dynasty.
According to many journalists of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda", in addition to water and forests, the PRC plans to invest in the following activities:
- processing industry;
- oil production;
- international tourism.
From the point of view of ecology, the forests and the coast of Lake Baikal can be severely damaged. 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 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, as the indicators of deforestation and fresh water transportation do not exceed environmental standards. And a share of the profit will pay off the damage and a part of the funds will be invested in the restoration of living resources of Siberia, especially 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 leader of the party “ 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, but also to contribute to other Siberian projects that are very beneficial for Russia.
© meduza.io/Ilya Tatarnikov
24 May 2017, 10:57In recent years, China has become the main supplier of tourists to Russia. Lake Baikal is especially fond of them: businessmen say that there are no vacant rooms in hotels even in winter, tour operators complain that their Chinese colleagues are squeezing them out of business, and local residents are unhappy with the way the Chinese behave. Taiga.info publishes an excerpt from Meduza's report on the Chinese invasion of the Irkutsk region.
Lake Baikal is covered with ice. On the ice one after another, in groups, in pairs, and (occasionally) alone, people in multi-colored clothes are walking and rolling suitcases on wheels. You can get to Olkhon Island from the mainland only by water, in winter, when the lake freezes over, by ice: in three minutes and four hundred rubles by boat air cushion or free for fifteen to twenty minutes on foot. People with suitcases prefer to save money. They all came here from China.
“It was as if I got into the Moscow metro. Although no, in Peking ", - wrote In the winter of 2017, Karina Pronina, a resident of Irkutsk who saw this picture on Facebook, added: a year ago this was not the case. This is confirmed by representatives of the local tourist business: according to them, up to 90% of all tourists on the lake this winter came from China; and on the days of the Chinese New Year (this year it fell on the last week of January) in some hotels on Olkhon there were exclusively Chinese guests. Of course, people from the PRC go not only to the Irkutsk Region (Moscow and St. 2015 in 2016 amounted to 158%.
“This year, almost all our hotels and camp sites stayed open for the winter,” recalls the administrator of the Nikita Bencharova Estate tourist center Christina Mayor. - For several days in a row, only Chinese tourists stayed with us. For the sake of interest, we checked on Booking.com - there were no vacancies anywhere. People, our locals, came at random, tried to move in, but alas. On excursions, the story is the same: we have popular place- Cape Haboy, the northern point of the island. So in winter it happened that when you arrived, you felt that you were somewhere in China, and not on Lake Baikal ”. 
Tourists from China, especially the older generation, are often fans of the so-called red tourism to places that are significant for the history of communism, which originated in the country at a time when its citizens did not have the opportunity to travel abroad. Hundreds of such routes have been created in China, so the Russian tourist industry has adjusted to the demand, especially since Russia has something to offer guests on this topic both in Moscow and in the regions. In 2017, an increase in the Chinese tourist flow is expected in connection with the anniversary of the October Revolution.
However, among those who go to Lake Baikal, according to the workers of the local tourist business, there are others: often - young people and students, "intelligent and Europeanized", some travel by themselves. They stop at budget hotels and hostels and do not use the services of guides, focusing on social networks. They travel, however, by the same routes as other Baikal tourists: Irkutsk as a starting point; Listvyanka village located on the shore of Lake Baikal; optional - the Circum-Baikal Railway; obligatory - Olkhon.
“Almost every tourist from China aspires to Olkhon,” says the director of the Irkutsk travel company Green Express Vadim Kopylov. "As far as I know, there is even a popular song about him in Chinese."
Not investment, but expansion
Back in the eighties, on the border of the Irkutsk region and China, there were red signs with inscriptions like “Attention! The Chinese is our enemy! " Then the current director of the Irkutsk company "Sputnik" and the head of the Siberian Baikal Tourism Association (SBAT) Igor Kovalenko was one of the pioneers in establishing business relations with neighbors - in 1989, as part of a Soviet delegation, he traveled all over northeast China to sign several agreements on mutual exchange of tourists. He continued to develop the region in the 2000s - once Kovalenko traveled far and wide with a photographer to winter Baikal to get pictures that are still used in Chinese advertising brochures. Then he came up with the phrase "blue ice of Baikal" - now in China it is used to promote winter tours.
Recently, however, representatives of the Siberian tourist industry have become worried about competition from their Chinese counterparts, who often operate under dubious schemes. In the spring of 2017, the executive director of the World Without Borders Association, Alexander Agamov, said that the Russian market was flooded with Chinese tourists who are being offered disproportionately cheap tours in their homeland. According to him, this stream is served by Chinese citizens based in Russia, who meet compatriots, arrange their accommodation - and also drive them to friendly shops, where tourists make purchases for cash at inflated prices: gold, amber, jewelry from precious stones, clothes of European brands. As a result, according to World Without Borders, at least $ 500 million is withdrawn from the Russian economy every year, since these purchases are not declared in any way. As explained to Meduza in World Without Borders, it works like this: the Chinese bring cash to Russia (tourists are instructed back in their homeland that everything is sold in Russia only for paper money); inflated prices that do not correspond to real cashier's checks, and the cash is divided between the shopkeeper, the Chinese escort of the group and / or the Russian guide and the Chinese company.
Kopylov adds that this problem is an all-Russian one (indeed: on May 17, Bumaga published an article about souvenir shops in St. Petersburg, where no one is allowed except the Chinese). “Not only do [Chinese entrepreneurs] enter our market, they create a closed infrastructure around themselves, when hotels, restaurants, transport - everything becomes Chinese,” says the businessman. “According to our estimates, there are already six or seven [Chinese hotels] in Listvyanka, and less on Olkhon. But until you see with your own eyes, you will not know which plots were bought by whom. They are registered as Russians, the Chinese never shine, and we will find out by fact who is really behind this. But they control 40-50% of tourists from their country on the territory of our region - that's for sure. "
Such Chinese entrepreneurs are very closed, keep apart - and, according to Russian competitors, operate illegally in Russia. “Such companies cannot be reached, they will not talk about these topics,” comments Alexander Agamov. “Shadow business is an acute, painful and delicate issue, it is discussed very carefully at the level of the travel administrations of both countries, and possibly the Foreign Ministry.” Attempts by a Meduza correspondent to contact representatives of Chinese companies suspected of shady activities were unsuccessful.
According to Igor Kovalenko, on Baikal, the Chinese, who had not previously worked in the industry, are starting to engage in tourist business, even former traders who made money on Russian tourists who came to China for shopping. “These are people who quickly find their bearings, including already buying land on the shores of Lake Baikal,” explains Kovalenko. - I personally asked one question: “Do you want to build something? Any infrastructure objects? “No, they say, we will buy now and then sell to the rich Chinese. As a result, they move here. Some, maybe not forever, but this is not an investment - this is expansion. " 
Kovalenko adds that Chinese companies selling cheap tours often already in Russia use the fact that their compatriots do not know either the language or the market, and sell additional excursions at exorbitant prices. He also speaks about the low quality of the competitors' service. “Once I met a partner from Hong Kong at the airport, and such a 'gray group' flew with him, - says the head of Sputnik and SBAT. - I say: look what kind of transport they are lucky and what their guide looks like, and compare with what we offer. He says: "I understood everything, there are no questions." This is how they do their low prices. "
Sightseeing espionage
In a sense, our Chinese colleagues are also helping Russian tour operators cope with the growth of the tourist flow. According to the estimates of the Chinese themselves, in the foreseeable future, about a million tourists from this country will come to one Irkutsk region a year. This is a lot. Moscow already lacks guides and translators with knowledge Chinese, and in St. Petersburg in the summer - in the highest season - and rooms in hotels. In the high season in the capital, according to World Without Borders, 80–90 groups only from mainland China pass through border crossing points (excluding Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as business tourists) - about three hundred guides are needed for this flow at a time. translators, and in Moscow there are about a hundred. The growth of the Chinese flow is recorded everywhere, including beyond the Urals: in Novosibirsk, in Altai, Far East and Kamchatka.
Large investment projects geared towards development are beginning to appear. Chinese tourism- so, on the same Baikal, the company "Grand Baikal" and its Chinese partners are going to invest about 11 billion rubles in the construction of tourist infrastructure in the city of Baikalsk, on the site of the closed Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill.
Nevertheless, Igor Kovalenko is convinced of the need for stricter regulation of the Chinese presence in the Russian travel industry. For example, he believes that it is necessary to strictly observe the existing ban on the work of Chinese guides on the territory of the Russian Federation, "because foreigners are depriving our children of work, who have been studying for seven to eight years," and also because Russians in China cannot work as guides ...
Photo by Margarita Loginova
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