The lake, nicknamed “the Pearl of Siberia”, is the world’s largest body of fresh water. It is already a desirable holiday destination.

The infrastructure is currently too poor. But the pins on Viktor Grigorov’s map of Baikal indicate he plans to change that. Based in Irkutsk, his company Grand Baikal is one of the investors in regional tourism and a partner company of the state electricity firm Irkutsk Energy.

“At the south end of the lake I can envisage us one day hosting the Winter Olympics — for the first time in Siberia!,” he says.

Earlier this year the Russian government declared the Baikal region a special economic zone, where financial laws are more liberal than in the rest of the country. Regional firms are capitalising on the new investment opportunity. Environmentalists, meanwhile, are worried about the potential impact on the region’s ecology.

The popular resort of Listvianka is an example, with its new market for tourists and a seven-story hotel towering above the other buildings in the village. Hotel Mayak caters for the elite. The lake lies in Buryatia, a region where unemployment is rated the worst in Siberia by the United Nations.

Most local people welcome the new investment. For the first time many have electricity in their homes. The small town of Khougir, on Olkhon island, has just been wired up to the national grid. Thanks to a ready supply of cheap electricity privately run business is experiencing its own boom in Khougir. “I remember a time when ours was the only guest house on the island, but now there are more than 30”, says Natalya Bencharova, who runs a travellers’ homestead and believes the boom is having a positive impact on the local economy.

Regional energy experts expect the development around Lake Baikal to accelerate when more companies learn about the special economic zone. Across the lake, energy companies are promising to limit the impact of development. The Russian atomic energy firm Rosatom is planning to construct a laboratory to monitor ecological changes caused by tourism in northern Baikal. The centre will be built in conjunction with an international uranium enrichment plant they say will allow them to invest $2.5 billon in the region.

Environmentalists say the impact of tourism on the delicate flora and fauna of Lake Baikal and its surroundings is far greater than the wealthy companies care to admit. Greenpeace and a local NGO, Baikal Environmental Wave, have set up a partnership with other regional ecologists to evaluate the environmental impact of new tourist centres.

The organiser, Yana Gerkova, says businessmen are purely interested in rapid investment in the region and neglect the environment. Litter illustrates the point. On Olkhon, cows wallow among plastic bottles, bags and tins at a rubbish dump the size of a football pitch. As the number of tourists rises, so too does the cleanup burden.
BBC News