Chinese tourists keen on Soviet retro tourism to Siberia

The proposed 'Red Tours' would focus on the lives of Soviet leaders from Lenin to Gorbachev, and on the lifestyle in the seven decades since the Bolshevik Revolution. The idea came at meetings during the World Travel Fair held in China. 

Other proposals too are interesting for the Chinese as numbers of foreign tourists from the country expand. 

'During the talks, foreign experts expressed interest in creating and promoting so-called Red Tours related to the Soviet period of Russian history and the life of party leaders,' said a statement from the Khabarovsk regional government. The Beijing authorities are also interested in establishing 'gastronomical tours, children's camps and fishing, hunting and ethnographic routes' in eastern regions of Russia.

The 'Red Tour' idea follows plans by the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia to open up old gulag camps - where victims of repression served their sentences in Soviet times, with many dying from the harsh conditions - as tourist locations. 

Regional tourism chief Yekaterina Kormilitsyna said: 'Today the gulag has every chance of attracting tourists. 

'This project will preserve the historical heritage not only of the region, but of the entire country.'