Opportunities of Development of Eco-Tourism in the Karelian Arctic in the Conditions of the Existing Environmental and Social Challenges

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The idea of sustainable tourism and ecotourism implies economic and social development in addition to the environmental aspect. Thus, according to Tosun (1999), a strong bottom-up involvement of local communities is particularly desirable. As a result of these activities, local people should experience an improvement in their economic situation and quality of life.  In my opinion, the interviews with experts conducted by the authors do not give a reliable picture of the possibilities for the development of ecotourism in Karelia, especially in light of the poor demographic and infrastructural situation in the study area (as can be seen from the data presented by the authors).  I suggest conducting a survey of local residents on a much larger sample, which would give the desired result. I am concerned about the lack of possibility to confront certain (statistical) governmental data presented by the authors concerning e.g. the state of the environment with independent research (I found studies which indicated that the Russian Federation prevents international cooperation in monitoring the state of the environment in border areas). The authors should be reminded that scientific research must be fully objective, impartial, while the reviewer has the impression that the results fit into the generally accepted narrative prevailing in the country. 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Point 1: The idea of sustainable tourism and ecotourism implies economic and social development in addition to the environmental aspect. Thus, according to Tosun (1999), a strong bottom-up involvement of local communities is particularly desirable. As a result of these activities, local people should experience an improvement in their economic situation and quality of life.  In my opinion, the interviews with experts conducted by the authors do not give a reliable picture of the possibilities for the development of ecotourism in Karelia, especially in light of the poor demographic and infrastructural situation in the study area (as can be seen from the data presented by the authors).  I suggest conducting a survey of local residents on a much larger sample, which would give the desired result. I am concerned about the lack of possibility to confront certain (statistical) governmental data presented by the authors concerning e.g. the state of the environment with independent research (I found studies which indicated that the Russian Federation prevents international cooperation in monitoring the state of the environment in border areas). The authors should be reminded that scientific research must be fully objective, impartial, while the reviewer has the impression that the results fit into the generally accepted narrative prevailing in the country.

Response 1: Assessing the tourism potential of a region is a complex task and requires specific knowledge and competencies that may not have all residents of the region. Interviewing experts allowed us to choose the most competent people, and during the interview to ask additional questions in order to clarify the expert's opinion and obtain the most complete information on the topic under study. In this regard, as the main method of data collection in this study, we chose interviewing experts, not a questionnaire survey of the population.

Due to the limited official statistics, the study used the results of earlier sociological studies by a team of authors in the field of environmental and economic development of the Karelian Arctic region. In particular, the work [Volkov et al. 2021] considered the specifics of the assessment of the local population of various components of the environment and their dynamics in the place of direct residence, in the region of residence and in the Arctic as a whole. The article shows the identified main threats to the well-being of the environment, according to representatives of local communities (page 7).

International environmental projects aimed at monitoring and measuring the environmental situation in the region have been repeatedly carried out on the territory of the Republic of Karelia. And the authors of the article were participants in some of these projects, in particular, "Intellectually driven management of natural resources of Green Belt of Fennoscandia" (within the framework of the Karelia ENPI cross-border cooperation program; No. 2012-06-KA529, 2013-2014), "WasteLess Karelias” (within the framework of the EU-Russia cross-border cooperation program “Karelia”; No. KA5013; 2018-2022). For example, in the WasteLess Karelias project, existing problems in the field of waste management in the settlements of Karelia were shown. These problems have been described in a number of publications (the first of the publications is in the bibliography of the article; one of the co-authors of the article is the co-author of these publications):

Albrecht M., Yarovoy G., Karginova-Gubinova V. 2020. Russia’s waste policy and rural waste management in the Karelian Republic: building up a ruin to come? Fennia – International Journal of Geography. Vol. 198. №1-2. P. 135-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.95519.

Albrecht M., Karginova-Gubinova V., Iarovoi G., Peltola T. 2020. Waste as a problem in rural Russia. Baltic Rim Economies Review. 2020. №1. P. 57.

Vasilieva A.V. 2019. Comparative Analysis of Approaches to Recreation Development in Specially Protected Areas in the Republic of Karelia (Russia) and Finland. National Interests: Priorities and Security. №15(10). P. 1969-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24891/ni.15.10.1969

Titov A.F., Mikhailova N.V., Vasilieva A.V. 2014. Using the natural resources and the historical and cultural heritage of the Green belt of Fennoscandia for its sustainable development. Abstracts of the Best Practice Cases, Green Belt of Fennoscandia Forum. P. 6. http://www.ym.fi/en-US/International_cooperation/Green_Belt_of_Fennoscandia/Dialogue_Forum.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors:

The authors systematically analyzed the prerequisites and socio-economic development situation for developing eco-tourism in the Arctic regions. Through the qualitative method, the manuscript ends up with innovative approaches for developing ecological tourism in the Karelian Arctic. We can see the manuscript is well-knit, yet several issues need the authors to consider.

 

As a whole, it would be better if the authors could understand the role and significance of each section of the paper and then compare and check the manuscript's content. Because, for now, the manuscript didn't show the role and significance mentioned above properly.

 

In each section, firstly, the sources of the statistical data and arguments need to be referenced in the Introduction and relevance section, such as on page 1, lines 35-36, 38-40, and 42-48.

Secondly, I recommend the authors create sub-titles to divide the content of the Review of literature section so that this part would be more organized. In this way, the Hypothesis at the end of this part could not see as strange. The authors can also replace the "Hypothesis" with "Conclusion."

Thirdly, the authors need to describe the details of the semi-formalized interview, including the interview framework, steps, questions, the text process, etc.

Forth, Readers may feel confused by table 1 for its unclear information and the disordered format. The authors need to improve table 1 by adjusting the form and adding information such as the unit of data and source reference.

Fifth, format problems need the authors to take a complete check and improve the manuscript, making sure it meets the requirement of an academic paper. For example, the format of tips (the principal involved companies on lines 493-559 and the development recommendations on lines 563-584) the authors proposed in Conclusions and recommendations need to be unified. And the authors need to number the references and make sure the format of references is accurate.

At last, an academic paper should avoid using subjective subjects such as "I" and "author."  descriptions such as sentences on lines 75, lines 171, lines 177, lines 200, lines 206, lines 220, lines 221, lines 287, etc. need to be corrected.

Author Response

Point 1: In each section, firstly, the sources of the statistical data and arguments need to be referenced in the Introduction and relevance section, such as on page 1, lines 35-36, 38-40, and 42-48.

Response 1: The required sources of statistical data are indicated (pages 1, 3, 7-8, 15).

Point 2: Secondly, I recommend the authors create sub-titles to divide the content of the Review of literature section so that this part would be more organized. In this way, the Hypothesis at the end of this part could not see as strange. The authors can also replace the "Hypothesis" with "Conclusion."

Response 2: Subheadings were created in the Literature Review section. At the end of this section, the hypothesis is reformulated (pages 3-5).

Point 3: Thirdly, the authors need to describe the details of the semi-formalized interview, including the interview framework, steps, questions, the text process, etc.

Response 3: The description of the research methodology, namely the interviewing of experts, has been supplemented (page 6). During the interview, questions were asked from three thematic blocks: general problems and prospects for the development of the region; sectoral regional problems and prospects, including those related to the tourism sector; environmental restrictions on regional development. In particular, in relation to the tourism sector and ecology, the following questions were asked: “What, in your opinion, is the tourism potential of the region and what is its strength?”, “Name the weaknesses of the tourism potential that limit its development”, “How would you characterize the development of the tourism sector of the municipal area over the past 12 years?”, “What are the main environmental problems in the district that you can identify?”, “How does the activity of the main enterprises affect the ecology of the district and the Republic as a whole?” and “What types of negative impact do enterprises have on the environment of the district?”. These issues made it possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and threats for the development of tourism and, in particular, ecotourism in the region.

Point 4: Forth, Readers may feel confused by table 1 for its unclear information and the disordered format. The authors need to improve table 1 by adjusting the form and adding information such as the unit of data and source reference.

Response 4: Table 1 (now Table 2) has been improved: links to data sources have been added. The data unit is indicated for each indicator in the first row of the table, where the names of the indicators are given (pages 7-8).

Point 5: Fifth, format problems need the authors to take a complete check and improve the manuscript, making sure it meets the requirement of an academic paper. For example, the format of tips (the principal involved companies on lines 493-559 and the development recommendations on lines 563-584) the authors proposed in Conclusions and recommendations need to be unified. And the authors need to number the references and make sure the format of references is accurate.

Response 5: The division of the recommendations into two parts was left due to the fact that the first part is mainly intended for companies, the second part - for the authorities.

Point 6: At last, an academic paper should avoid using subjective subjects such as "I" and "author."  descriptions such as sentences on lines 75, lines 171, lines 177, lines 200, lines 206, lines 220, lines 221, lines 287, etc. need to be corrected.

Response 6: The style of the text has been improved, sentences with the words "I" and "author" have been changed.

Reviewer 3 Report

Generally, this is an interesting paper. Below You could find a few suggestions for improving the paper:

·       The keywords do not seem to be an adequate selection. There are too many of them.

 ·    Page 1, line 24: Please, consider the word “preventing”. Perhaps the word “reducing” would be more appropriate.

 ·       Page 4, line 200: “The authors of the study suggest that that the territory of the…”

 ·    Page 5, lines 224-233: Please, provide few more details (sample size, research issues...) regarding the sociological survey conducted in the form of a semi-formalized interview.

 

The theoretical framework is consistent and well designed. The cited references are relevant to the research. However, I suggest to authors to include in the literature review the following:

-       Braund, S., & Kofinas, G. (1996). Defining Arctic Community Sustainability.

-       Eduard, B. G. (2018). Ecological tourism as a factor of sustainable development of the Western Arctic. Social and Economic Development, 32, 15-24.

-       Ivanova, R. M., Skrobotova, O. V., Martynenko, N. K., Tamer, O. S., & Kozlov, A. V. (2021). Environmental cooperation as a way of developing eco-tourism in the arctic region. Regional Science Inquiry, 13(1), 69-79.

-       Oksana, B., & Nikolay, K. (2017). Comparative geographical analysis of environmental management in the Russian part of the green belt of fen-noscandia and western sector of the Russian arctic. International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference: SGEM, 17, 201-207.

-       Sevastiyanov, D. V., Colpaert, A., Korostelyov, E., Mulyava, O., & Shitova, L. (2014). Management of tourism and recreation possibilities for the sustainable development of the north-western border region in Russia. Nordia geographical publications, 43(1), 27-38.

-       Qin, J., Zhang, P., Deng, G., & Chen, L. (2014). A Study on Eco-Tourism and Sustainable Development of Economic Underdevelopment Areas—An Example from Kanas Nature Reserve, Xingjiang Province, Northwest China. Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 2014.

However, beside that fact, I think that this paper could still be a good contribution to practice.

 

Author Response

Point 1: The keywords do not seem to be an adequate selection. There are too many of them.

Response 1: The number of keywords has been reduced.

Point 2: Page 1, line 24: Please, consider the word “preventing”. Perhaps the word “reducing” would be more appropriate.

Response 2: Necessary text corrections have been made.

Point 3: Page 4, line 200: “The authors of the study suggest that that the territory of the…”

Response 3: Necessary text corrections have been made.

Point 4: Page 5, lines 224-233: Please, provide few more details (sample size, research issues...) regarding the sociological survey conducted in the form of a semi-formalized interview.

Response 4: The research methodology, namely the method of interviewing experts, is described in more detail.

Point 5: The theoretical framework is consistent and well designed. The cited references are relevant to the research. However, I suggest to authors to include in the literature review the following: …

Response 5: The list of references has been supplemented.

Reviewer 4 Report

The topic is interesting and very well presented in all sections of the manuscript. The title is appropriate. It is recommended to reduce the number of keywords. Everything necessary is given in the abstract, from the goal, to the conclusion, and the significance of the research. 

The introductory part is extensive, as is the literature review. It is recommended to shorten the literature review section, but it is not mandatory, if it fits into the number, say according to the instructions of the journal.

The methodology is very precisely explained. Tables and figures are clearly presented. The results section is very well explained. There are no recommendations for changes. In the concluding part, it is recommended to give and show the limiting circumstances in the research, if also to mention the theoretical and applied applications and the importance of the research. I ask the authors to edit the manuscript according to the instructions, and pay attention to the references.

Recommendation for citing the manuscript: Jovanović, J.M., Stojanović, M., Janković, T., Drobnjak, S., Djordjević, D., Banković, R., Radovanović, M.,  Živković, LJ., Gajić, T., Demirović Bajrami,D.,Tretiakova,T.N. & Syromiatnikova, J.A. (2022). Tourism valorization and cartographic visualization of the cultural assets – focus on the Danube Limes in Serbia. Sustainability14, 1480, 2/27.https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031480 

Author Response

Point 1: It is recommended to reduce the number of keywords. Everything necessary is given in the abstract, from the goal, to the conclusion, and the significance of the research.

Response 1: The number of keywords has been reduced.

Point 2: In the concluding part, it is recommended to give and show the limiting circumstances in the research, if also to mention the theoretical and applied applications and the importance of the research. I ask the authors to edit the manuscript according to the instructions, and pay attention to the references.

Response 2: In the original version of the article, the factors limiting the interpretation of the results of the study were indicated in the last paragraph. This section has been expanded, limiting factors are described more below. The importance of the study is described in the penultimate paragraph of the article.

Point 3: Recommendation for citing the manuscript: ...

Response 3: The list of references has been supplemented.

Reviewer 5 Report

Arctic tourism is a hot research topic focusing on the goals of sustainable development and rational use of natural resources. The authors took an interesting scope for their study – the Republic of Karelia in Russia, which is an Arctic, coastal and border region all at once. The article contains interesting points regarding the qualitative assessment of the tourism potential of the municipalities of the region (for example, excerpts from expert interviews). The article is well illustrated – the maps are made at a high level.

However, despite the noted advantages, the article has a number of issues that should be improved.

Firstly, the text within sections should be better structured. For example, it would be better if the purpose of the study was formulated in the introduction. It would also significantly improve the article if the introductory part was better substantiated. There is a lack of international context for the issues under study. It would be good to reflect the scientific significance of the problem being solved. In the theory section, classical concepts were mentioned. But, unfortunately, their modern interpretation is poorly represented. It is not entirely clear from the text which theoretical approach the authors adhere to. The Materials and methods section is sparse. More information is needed on how these methods were specifically applied. Attention should be paid to the method of conducting expert interviews. The Results section should be closely linked to the Methodology section.

Secondly, the conclusions of the study require significant revision. In this version of the text, the scientific value of the study is not clear. It is necessary to clarify what increase in scientific knowledge this research provides.

Thirdly, the authors should place their research in the international research context. Research in the development of Arctic tourism is carried out by scholars in different countries. It would be nice to show what Karelia has in common and how it differs from other Arctic regions in terms of tourism development. Why is this case interesting for the international academic community?

Fourthly, the authors suggest that eco-tourism can have a beneficial effect on local communities, incl. by creating new jobs. Is there already positive experience in the Arctic zone?

Also, the authors do not indicate the rural or urban communities in question.

Strong negative trends associated with the leaching of the population from the municipalities of the region significantly affect the entrepreneurial and labor potential of these areas. For rural areas, after certain threshold values ​​of depopulation, the revitalization of economic activity becomes significantly more difficult. Do the authors take this into account? If you pay attention to excerpts from the interview, the problem of personnel shortage is one of the most serious. I would like the authors to pay more attention to it, incl. in the conclusions of the study.

Finaly, the thesis of the authors is not clear: “An important aspect here is that investment projects in the field of tourism can be implemented relatively in the short term, do not require significant (compared to high-tech industries) financial investments and the use of unique technologies, do not depend critically on the qualification level of potential employees.” Is it really so convenient to develop the ecological tourism?

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 5 Comments

Point 1: Firstly, the text within sections should be better structured. For example, it would be better if the purpose of the study was formulated in the introduction. It would also significantly improve the article if the introductory part was better substantiated. There is a lack of international context for the issues under study. It would be good to reflect the scientific significance of the problem being solved. In the theory section, classical concepts were mentioned. But, unfortunately, their modern interpretation is poorly represented. It is not entirely clear from the text which theoretical approach the authors adhere to. The Materials and methods section is sparse. More information is needed on how these methods were specifically applied. Attention should be paid to the method of conducting expert interviews. The Results section should be closely linked to the Methodology section.

Response 1: The structure of the text has been improved. In particular, the text in the "Review of literature" section was divided into parts, subtitles were added.

In the second paragraph of section 3 "The goal and methods of research", the authors indicate that the Republic of Karelia has common features that are typical for all Arctic territories (the specific features of the Republic of Karelia are indicated in the third paragraph of this section). Accordingly, the theoretical and practical conclusions of this work, obtained on the basis of the study of the Arctic territories of Karelia, are also valuable for other territories. It is noted that now the importance of sustainable development and ecological tourism is high for all countries. The authors analyzed a wide range of studies by scientists from different countries, and after the first stage of peer review, the literature review was expanded.

The scientific significance of the study is shown in the penultimate paragraph of the article.

The scientific basis of this study is a set of theories of sustainable and regional development, especially the theory of cluster development by M. Porter, which, in particular, was indicated in line 284 of the original manuscript of the article.

The research methodology, namely the method of interviewing experts, is described in more detail. As a result, the connection of this section with the results of the study has become more explicit (page 6 of the manuscript).

Point 2: Secondly, the conclusions of the study require significant revision. In this version of the text, the scientific value of the study is not clear. It is necessary to clarify what increase in scientific knowledge this research provides.

Response 2: The scientific significance of the study is shown in the penultimate paragraph of the article (page 18 of the manuscript).

«The study contributes to the development of scientific knowledge about specific prerequisites and conditions for the development of ecological areas of the economy of the northern, subarctic and arctic territories of the European part of Russia. As mentioned earlier, the Karelian Arctic has a number of typical strengths and weaknesses, which suggests that the results obtained in the work are of scientific and practical importance for other similar Russian Arctic territories. The article substantiates that the diversification of the economy of such regions is possible through the development of ecological tourism, which can be considered as one of the alternative ways to overcome the steady trend of outflow and degradation of human capital in the Russian Arctic territories. The principles of organization substantiated by the authors and the proposed innovative tools for the development of ecological tourism can be especially in demand given the growing economic, environmental and social challenges, which in turn is associated with the need to maximize the effective implementation of the potential of the Arctic territories».

Point 3: Thirdly, the authors should place their research in the international research context. Research in the development of Arctic tourism is carried out by scholars in different countries. It would be nice to show what Karelia has in common and how it differs from other Arctic regions in terms of tourism development. Why is this case interesting for the international academic community?

Response 3: The studied works on international experience in the development of ecotourism and examples of projects were given at the end of the third paragraph of the "Review of literature" section (lines 132-136 of the original submitted manuscript). The authors analyzed a wide range of studies by scientists from different countries, and the literature review was expanded (pages 2, 3, 5, 6, 13).

Point 4: Fourthly, the authors suggest that eco-tourism can have a beneficial effect on local communities, incl. by creating new jobs. Is there already positive experience in the Arctic zone?

Also, the authors do not indicate the rural or urban communities in question.

Strong negative trends associated with the leaching of the population from the municipalities of the region significantly affect the entrepreneurial and labor potential of these areas. For rural areas, after certain threshold values ​​of depopulation, the revitalization of economic activity becomes significantly more difficult. Do the authors take this into account? If you pay attention to excerpts from the interview, the problem of personnel shortage is one of the most serious. I would like the authors to pay more attention to it, incl. in the conclusions of the study.

Response 4: The list of considered districts of the Republic of Karelia is indicated, for example, in Table 2 (pages 7-8 ). These districts have both urban and rural settlements.

For the development of the Arctic territories and ecotourism, in particular, it is of key importance to solve the problem of depopulation of these territories. Therefore, in section “4.1. Socio-economic development of the Karelian Arctic districts” an assessment of the current level of human capital of the territory and existing problems was given. In particular, the number of labor resources and migration gain per one thousand people are given. The main recommendations for solving existing problems were given in lines 563-567 of the original submitted manuscript. It is expected that the impact of eco-tourism development on the well-being of local communities will differ depending on the spatial localization of the community, the degree of urbanization and industrial development. The specifics of the ecological variety of tourism are more in line with remote areas, without a serious environmental burden from existing industrial enterprises. These territories also have a higher potential for the development of related, interdependent or complementary types of tourism - ecological, natural, sports, gastronomic, etc. In this regard, it is the remote rural communities (for example, the historic fishing villages on the White Sea) that have the greatest potential in providing the final eco-tourism product. Urban communities traditionally in the Russian Arctic are economically connected with industrial production or the transport sector, and primarily have a transit potential for the development of eco-tourism, which is increasing due to the general sparseness of the economic space of the region. This distribution of functionality also determines the ultimate benefits for local rural and urban communities from the development of eco-tourism (page 3).

Point 5: Finaly, the thesis of the authors is not clear: “An important aspect here is that investment projects in the field of tourism can be implemented relatively in the short term, do not require significant (compared to high-tech industries) financial investments and the use of unique technologies, do not depend critically on the qualification level of potential employees.” Is it really so convenient to develop the ecological tourism?

Response 5: Data that demonstrates the investment attractiveness of eco-tourism and the contribution to employment from tourism (in the study areas) was added to the article. At the same time, it was noted that most of the tourism projects in the Arctic zone of the Republic of Karelia have precisely ecological specialization. At the same time, the multidirectional nature of the impact from the development of tourism on rural and urban communities was determined (page 3).

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Sustainability consists of three pillars environment, economy and society. If the welbeing of local communities is not sufficient, there is no option to encourage them to make ecotourism offer or participate in any projects connected with tourism. Sustainable tourism is not governmental issues, it is not governmental propaganda - it is bottom up initiatives and projects.

Author Response

Point 1: Sustainability consists of three pillars environment, economy and society. If the welbeing of local communities is not sufficient, there is no option to encourage them to make ecotourism offer or participate in any projects connected with tourism. Sustainable tourism is not governmental issues, it is not governmental propaganda - it is bottom up initiatives and projects.

Response 1: The Karelian Arctic, whichis exploredin the work, can be characteried not only by spatially determined advantages for touries, but also by spatially determined disadvantages of enterpreneurial activity. The state programs for the development of the Russian Arctic, which are described in the article, do not replace and arenot a determing prerequisite for the intensification of eco-tourism activities, partly leveling the disadvantages of enterpreneurial activity mentioned by the spatially determined ones. The main role belongs to bottom up initiatives and projects.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors:

We can see that the authors have absorbed the advice and solved the related problems one by one, and now the manuscript has been improved a lot. I appreciate the efforts and work of the authors.

Before the J. Risk Financial Manag accepted the manuscript., I think it would be better if the author could make further efforts in the following tips.

First, the authors’ expressions about the first person in the manuscript have not been completely deleted. These expressions will weaken the objectivity of the paper. Therefore, reading the manuscript through and solving this problem will be needed.

Second, it would be better if the manuscript could be streamlined. This work can be achieved by reducing the proportion of the figures and the part of the content.

Third, I recommend the authors revisit the literature references section to confirm that it is consistent with the requirements of the J. Risk Financial Manag.

Author Response

Point 1: First, the authors’ expressions about the first person in the manuscript have not been completely deleted. These expressions will weaken the objectivity of the paper. Therefore, reading the manuscript through and solving this problem will be needed.

Point 1: First, the authors’ expressions about the first person in the manuscript have not been completely deleted. These expressions will weaken the objectivity of the paper. Therefore, reading the manuscript through and solving this problem will be needed.

Point 1: First, the authors’ expressions about the first person in the manuscript have not been completely deleted. These expressions will weaken the objectivity of the paper. Therefore, reading the manuscript through and solving this problem will be needed.

Response 1: We carefully reviewed the article and tried to remove all expressions about the first person  (pages 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 17).

Point 2: Second, it would be better if the manuscript could be streamlined. This work can be achieved by reducing the proportion of the figures and the part of the content.

Response 2: Figures in the article demonstrate one of the key aspects of the work – the spatial preconditions for the intensification of eco-tourism activities. Maps are the most convinient way to show this information.Since this remark refers to the general features of the work, we will definitely take into account in the framework of turter research and in the preparation of manuscripts, while improving the style of writing publications!

Point 3: Third, I recommend the authors revisit the literature references section to confirm that it is consistent with the requirements of the J. Risk Financial Manag.

Response 3: Necessary text corrections have been made in the literature references section.