The world's largest inland body of water, Caspian Sea, enjoys good potential to be one of the most popular destinations on the map of cruise tourism.
Although no sea cruises across the Caspian Sea are currently available, the littoral states join efforts to develop the joint cruise tourism product.
Rosturizm (Russian Federal Agency for Tourism) took the initiative and intends to develop cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea via the involvement of the littoral countries - Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
According to Oleg Safonov, head of Rosturizm, the agency is preparing the plan for cruise tourism's development in the Caspian Sea, which is one of the important directions.
The main problem, however, is the creation of infrastructure, including passenger stations, quay walls, checkpoints, etc., that must be prepared by next year.
Image: Baku, Azerbaijan
In March, at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi, the Dagestan authorities revealed a project on the development of cruise shipping on the Caspian Sea. The new project involved the creation of 9 cruise routes "The Caspian Sea - the Sea of Friendship" on the route Makhachkala-Derbent-Baku-Enzeli-Turkmenbashi-Aktau-Astrakhan-Makhachkala.