On July 25, Navy Day, the opening of the second phase of the construction of the Land of Forts Museum and Historical Park will take place, Ksenia Shoigu, head of the project office on the development of the Land of Forts shopping and entertainment center told a news conference at the Host City Media Center. The development of the park began in 2019, and the first stage opened in 2020.
"The second stage covers a substantial territory, which will accommodate a number of facilities for little children as well as teenagers, including a skate park," Ms. Shoigu said.
According to Shoigu, as of today, about 4,500 visit the Land of Forts on weekdays and 15,000-17,000 on weekends. When the project is fully completed, it is planned that about three million tourists will visit it annually.
"These are excellent numbers considering both the economy and the tourist flow," she stressed.
Shoigu added that the entire project will have 32 facilities, including a residential complex, social infrastructure, and a convention and exhibition complex among many other facilities.
"Of course, we're restoring about 19 cultural landmarks, including three forts which are, of course, historical landmarks. When one strolls around Fort Kronschlot, and when one realizes that Peter the Great was responsible for laying the cornerstone, one cannot help but come back and start working actively, so that as many people as possible can see it," Shoigu noted.
She also added that the renovation of the three Kronstadt forts would be completed by 2024. Once the work is finished, a registry office could open in one of them. In addition to this, talks are underway to launch an analogue of the Fort Boyard game show there.
According to Shoigu, an upgrade of the transport interchange with the St. Petersburg Ring Road will be an important event for the Land of Forts and Kronstadt. The design work has already begun.
Sergei Korneyev, Chair of the Tourism Committee of the St. Petersburg Administration, noted the project's importance for the city and its great influence on the further development of St. Petersburg.
"It is a basic project for St. Petersburg's new tourism geography that Governor Alexander Beglov set as a strategic task," Korneyev said.
The committee chair noted that the Land of Forts was designed to show tourists a new side of St. Petersburg. Moreover, the museum and historical park is capable of receiving visitors all year round, which should become a powerful driver for the development of tourism and the economy in general.
"During their visit, every tourist (this is global statistics) supports three jobs at their place of stay, with their money, their spending. Every five tourists create one new permanent, year-round job, a job in the city or in Kronstadt as a unit, in the Kronstadt District. This investment is the cleanest. Tourism is the cleanest export," Korneyev said.
