Last week President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announce a $2.8bn ski investment partnership between the French state owned bank the Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Russia’s state-run North Caucasus Resorts Co to obtain £2.8bn investment for four ski resorts close to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic games. Situated in the troubled Caucasus region the Chairman of North Caucasus Resort Co suggested that force majeur and security caveats will be part of any investment deal to protect investors as this region was recently shut down by the Russian for 'counter terrorist' measures after 3 Russian ski tourists were shot dead and two seriuosly wounded on their way up to Kabardino-Balkariya, a cable car structure was blown and four people were lucky to escape with minor injuries when the car plunged to the floor, and a series of car bombs were defused.
Russia certainly has good pedigree with Kabardino-Balkariya skiing up to 3,475m but the infrastructure and instability is really limiting tourism development and luxury ski resorts and holidays in Russia are a pipe dream at the moment but not without clear intent from the Russian Government. Certainly lets hope for the sake of the people in the Caucasus that the plans and investment will come as quick as the fast moving chairs they need, rather than it being as slow as the old one and two man ski lifts that currently precede. If its the latter, instability could continue to rise.
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