Clockwork mechanism: can tourists get into enterprises
According to preliminary estimates, the flow of industrial tourists by the end of 2024 will amount to more than 2 million and will exceed the figures for 2023 by at least a quarter, industry experts said. So far, not all industrial facilities can be easily accessed by the average tourist, but there is plenty of choice for those wishing to learn how steel is tempered. How industrial tourism is developing and what the largest plants in the country can be accessed - in the material "Izvestia".
How many industrial tourists there are in Russia
General Director of business tourism agency MICE Market, the initiator of the project "Industrial Tourism of the Russian Federation" Sergei Ryzhov told "Izvestia" that the flow of industrial tourists in 2023 in Russia amounted to 1.4 million people.
-For 2024, the results will be in March, but, according to preliminary analytics, already more than 2 million people," he said.
The Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) has a similar estimate on the number of industrial tourists. Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Yuri Barzykin gave slightly smaller figures, which, however, also show a significant increase in interest in industrial tourism: in 2022 about 800 thousand people, in 2023 - 1 million 200 thousand, and in 2024 - 1.5-2 million people.
- Additional excursion flows, i.e. tourists who come to the regions for other purposes, should also be taken into account here. They also often go on excursions to industrial tourism facilities," he told Izvestia.
Are many enterprises open for tourists
According to Sergey Ryzhov, now 81 regions are involved in the project "Open Industry", which is supervised by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, although four years ago there were only 10.
-In total, over 2.5 thousand enterprises have become open over four years, but this is still a small share of the total volume of industry in our country," said Sergey Ryzhov.
The Agency for Strategic Initiatives named another figure: industrial tourism is now being developed by more than 1 thousand Russian enterprises from 81 regions of Russia.
- The structure of visits to industrial tourism looks like this: 24% are in demand objects of food industry, about 13% - light industry, 12% - mechanical engineering, about 7% - metallurgy and mining. Approximately the same amount is attributed to techno- and industrial parks, - said Yuri Barzykin.
ASI notes the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which is visited monthly by at least 1 thousand people: to see the blast furnace live, tourists come not only from the Chelyabinsk region, but also from neighboring regions and the capital. But the leaders in terms of attendance "traditionally remain food industry enterprises". For example, the capital concern "Babaevsky" is visited by at least 50 thousand tourists a year. These are mostly children and schoolchildren, the ASI added.
Babaevsky Confectionery Concern
Yuri Barzykin notes that the largest objects of industrial tourism receive tens of thousands of people a year. He named the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) as the leader.
Metallurgical enterprises in general willingly let tourists into their workshops. MMK told Izvestia that the plant now has eight tourist routes , and since 2018 about 60 thousand people have visited the industrial site. The most popular routes are "Taming the Fire" and "Steel Evolution", when tourists are taken to the blast furnace shop and sheet rolling facilities.
The United Metallurgical Company (OMK) has also been showing production to tourists since 2018. Shops in Vyksa in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Perm Krai, Bashkiria and Chelyabinsk are open for visits. Over the past seven years, more than 25 thousand people have been on excursions.
-All our routes are conducted within the framework of the "Plant Seen" project: we show real production, for example, the production of large-diameter pipes used for gas and oil pipelines and railroad wheels for passenger and freight trains," OMK's press service said.
Lyudmila Guseva, Advisor to the General Director of Severstal Russian Steel Division, coordinator of the working group for the creation of the Metallurgical Industry Center, said that at Severstal the tourist program in 2024 has expanded to the largest in Europe blast furnace No. 5 "Severyanka" and the most productive in the Russian metallurgy mill 2000.
-Specially equipped viewing galleries allow visitors to observe spectacular production processes safely, without using special personal protective equipment, " Lyudmila Guseva told Izvestia.
Anyone over the age of 14 can visit the industrial tour by appointment. For the whole time the Metallurgical Industry Center has conducted more than 480 industrial tours for 5 thousand people, and blast furnace No. 5 and mill 2000 were visited by more than 280 tourists as of mid-December 2024.
Sergey Ryzhov notes that so far there are restrictions for solo tourists: basically all the plants are for organized visits, you can't just come from the street. However, some of them cooperate with operators who sell tours to individuals.
- This is the model for now, but as the number of factories increases, the offer for tourists will also grow," he said.
Why the industry needs tourists
The ASI said that the main purpose of industrial tourism for enterprises is to promote their brand as an employer. Profit from tourism does not become a determining goal for large or even medium-sized industrial enterprises, says Yuri Barzykin.
-More important is the search for future personnel, image of the enterprise, promotion of its products for its partners, " he said. - For small and small industries it is the realization of their products and revenue from visits. And for everyone it is very important to establish business contacts. This forms the image not only of the enterprises, but also of the region as a whole.
The press service of the United Metallurgical Company also emphasizes that "industrial tourism is not about profit". But apart from image formation and education of potential personnel, it also becomes an important factor for improvement of infrastructure and services of the cities where the enterprises are located, the company told Izvestia. For example, in Nizhny Novgorod's Vyksa, thanks to industrial tours to the plant in 2019-2023, tourist traffic to the city more than doubled.
Maria Zakharova, head of Sibur's Protocol and Corporate Services function , calls industrial tourism an important element of socio-economic development of territories and an effective way of solving business tasks for companies in various industries.
- "By opening its doors to an external audience, an enterprise demonstrates its achievements, technological processes and environmentally friendly production, thus forming a new image of modern Russian industry," she told Izvestia. - For example, local residents visiting the enterprise in Tobolsk see how the company minimizes its environmental impact and learn about the plant's closed-loop water supply system, which eliminates water runoff into the surrounding water bodies.
Sibur notes that at the same time they are engaged in eco-education: during excursions they talk about the economy of the closed cycle, and visitors see how recycled plastic is involved in production.
Lyudmila Guseva from Severstal notes that industrial tourism also helps to attract personnel to the regions, because young people "are not always eager to return to industrial centers from big cities after their studies. A factory tour allows them to see a modern plant and "inspiring production processes".
ASI emphasizes that the initiative for industrial tourism always comes from enterprises, but in the long term, those territories with support from the authorities win.
- We have successful examples of regions where industrial tourism is developing at a systemic level and where more than 50 enterprises of various industries are open for visits: Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Kuzbass, Moscow, Sverdlovsk Oblast, and so on. etc.," emphasized the ASI.
Moreover, over time, industrial tourism is becoming broader than just visiting production facilities. For example, OMK has an industrial street art park with large-scale works of art by contemporary artists. And tourists are offered a comprehensive product - not just access to a closed industrial facility, but also visits to city attractions, local restaurants, active recreation, etc. Many corporations are following this path. For example, Maria Zakharova from Sibur tells about the experience of participation in the All-Russian festival "Night of Plants", which united art and industrial facilities: audio performances and a live orchestra were held at the plants in Tobolsk and Perm.
Another example of combining industrial tourism with other activities is the case of EL5-Energo PJSC (part of Lukoil Group). Since June 2024, this company has been showing tourists the company's wind farm above the Arctic Circle, and a large-scale race "Energy Trail" was held there.
Where tourists cannot get to
However, there are still plenty of closed enterprises. For example, in 2021 in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug it was stated that local oil and gas companies were preparing to open for tourists. Viktor Gamuzov, Director of the Department of Industry of Ugra, told Izvestia that now six enterprises in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug openly show the production process, including Gazprom Transgaz Yugorsk announced in 2021. Tourists there are shown the workshop and gas turbines, but it is still impossible to visit oil wells in the region.
"Gazprom transgaz Yugorsk
This does not mean that there is no industrial tourism in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. For example, the core storage facility in Khanty-Mansiysk is a very interesting place to visit, where you can smell oil and learn about the history and technology of oil production. But you can't get to the industrial sites where black gold is directly extracted yet.
- It is impossible to get free access to the oil production facilities due to the fact that these enterprises are strategically important facilities and there is a special regime of their work and visit, - said "Izvestia" in the Department of Internal Policy of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
Yury Barzykin also notes that one should take into account that the oil and gas industry has "special visiting regimes" and this concerns production safety.
The press service of the government of YNAO, another oil and gas region of Russia, also emphasized that "visits to industrial facilities are carefully controlled for security reasons and in order to protect commercial secrets, so it is necessary to coordinate excursions in advance". At the same time, the region tries to pay a lot of attention to industrial tourism: tourists are taken to the bakery, fish factory, they visit the gas processing plant "SiburTyumenGas", Vyngapurovsky gas processing plant, etc. There was even an excursion of the finalists of the Big Change federal project competition to Yamal LNG in Sabetta, where they had to fly to by air.
Finalists of the contest of the Big Change federal project at the Yamal LNG tour in Sabetta
The KMAA also continues to discuss the development of industrial tourism. Viktor Gamuzov said that the Nizhnevartovsk branch of SiburTyumenGas has joined the region's industrial tourism team. Excursion programs "will allow tourists to get acquainted with modern high-tech production and basic technological processes at the enterprise".
