Developing tourism is an effective tool for diversifying the Murmansk economy, creating additional jobs, and satisfying the business, socio-cultural, and recreational needs of residents and visitors.

Local governments have limited influence over the factors that pose threats and opportunities for tourism development in Murmansk. To address this issue, it is crucial to consolidate the efforts of the Murmansk city administration and the executive authorities of the Murmansk region in providing infrastructure, marketing, and information support for tourism development.

Murmansk is the largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle, a major maritime transport hub, a fishing center for Russia, and the business capital of the Arctic. The city boasts tourism resources capable of satisfying the demand of visitors from a variety of destinations.

The main areas of tourism development in the city of Murmansk are:

• cultural and educational tourism;
• event and business tourism;
• patriotic tourism;
• sports tourism;
• cruise tourism;
• Arctic tourism (cruises on icebreakers of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Atomflot to the North Pole);
• gastronomic tourism.

Murmansk's tourism infrastructure has gained new momentum in recent years. The city's tourism sector has seen a significant increase in the number of travel companies focused on developing domestic and inbound tourism. The geography of tourism programs and routes has expanded, both within the region and across the country. 

The hospitality infrastructure is improving: the number of shared accommodation facilities of various levels and price categories, including hotels, motels and mini-hotels, and hostels, is growing, the range of services is expanding, and the quality of services is improving.  

It is worth noting the public catering sector, which is represented in the city by a large number of restaurants, bars, cafes, and eateries, the menus of most of which include dishes from "Arctic cuisine".

During the holidays, fairs traditionally take place at various venues throughout the city, including stalls selling treats and souvenirs from local producers, creative workshops, concerts, and entertainment programs.

The range of goods from local producers with a northern identity, aimed at tourists, is expanding (jams and sauces from northern berries, meat products from fish and venison).

For the convenience of visitors, signs of a single unified tourist navigation system ("Road Signs") have been installed within the municipality at the expense of the regional budget.

The Murmansk city tourism portal tour.citymurmansk.ru  and the regional resource "Guide to the Murmansk Region" https://murmansk.travel are operational .

The Murmansk Region Tourist Information Center operates in the city. The center's office is located on the ground floor of the AZIMUT Hotel at 82 Lenin Avenue, 1st Floor.

In 2025, the hero city of Murmansk hosted the International Arctic Forum for the first time. As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted at the International Arctic Forum, which took place in Murmansk this March, "both the city itself and the Murmansk Region set an example for all Arctic regions of dynamic, progressive development." Murmansk confirmed its status as the capital of the Russian Arctic.

The trademark "Murmansk – the capital of the Russian Arctic" was registered with Rospatent in September 2025.