The total area of the resorts will amount to 400 million square meters, with 803 kilometers’ worth of ski trails and 104,500 hotel rooms. In order to cope with the increased tourist traffic, two more airports will be built in the region, in addition to the existing five. If now about 4,000 tourists enjoy the resorts in the North Caucasus every year, in about 10 years the target is to bring in 5 million tourists. The project will provide jobs for about 160,000 locals.

The detailed plan of the future resorts will be presented in July at an economic forum in St. Petersburg. The construction is to take off in 2011.

The initiative was first put forward by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said that although the situation in the North Caucasus is far from stable, the country is ready to stimulate those not afraid of losing some money financing the project.