‘The president has instructed to develop tourism in the Far East. We will announce later’

Tourism is a priority for Russia

The first results of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry”, launched in the country a year ago, were presented on 17 May in the coordination centre of the Russian government. A large presentation was made immediately after the end of the May holidays, which are considered a kind of benchmark for the state of domestic tourism in the country. A detailed report was made by the main curator of the project, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of Rosturism Zarina Doguzova, and Director General of Tourism.RF state corporation Sergey Sukhanov.

“The national project 'Tourism and Hospitality Industry' was launched exactly a year ago at the instruction of President Vladimir Putin. We believe that it was in May 2021 that the era of the revival of domestic tourism began in our country. Russia is becoming a country where recreation becomes the most convenient and safe," Dmitry Chernyshenko said in his opening speech.

According to him, the tourist cashback programmes have helped the tourism industry recover, and the current geopolitical situation has created favourable opportunities for the development of tourism within the country.

As it turned out, the results of the May holidays instilled confidence in the correctness of the chosen course to stimulate travelling around the country. According to head of Rosturism Zarina Doguzova, these days more than 4 million people travelled around the country, who used cashback, and for the marketing promotion of tourist activity in the country alone Rosturism for the first time received a record amount of 2 billion rubles. The key goal of the national project is to double the number of trips to 140 million by 2024 and implement about 600 infrastructure projects.

Dmitry Chernyshenko reported that in the first year of the national project, 45,9 billion rubles were allocated to create infrastructure and increase the accessibility of recreation for Russians. This year, it is planned to increase investments to 52,8 billion rubles. At the same time, it was possible to increase the domestic tourist flow — from 56,5 to 61,2 million trips.

“We see that the number of trips within the country has already exceeded 11,6 million people in three months," he said.

75 billion rubles for the ski resorts of Adygea, Krasnodar, the Far East

A promising task is to expand the construction of tourist infrastructure in the regions at the expense of private investments. According to the deputy prime minister, it is planned to attract about 2 trillion rubles, and as support the federal budget is ready to allocate 0,5 trillion rubles, the regions — another 72 billion. In total, Chernyshenko estimates promising investments of 2,5-3 trillion rubles. Later, the head of Tourism.RF state corporation, Sergey Sukhanov, presented specific projects of master plans of tourist zones, which will be financed with the participation of the corporation. Tatarstan was among the 19 regions thanks to the project of a tourist zone in Laishevo. However, investments will first go to the construction of the ski resorts of Lago-Naki in Adygea for 650 places, Three Volcanoes park in Kamchatka for 2041 places, and the construction of the Vasta Valley, which was called a second Rosa Khutor resort in Krasnodar. This year, 75 billion rubles have been allocated for their implementation, which will increase the number of hotels by 20 thousand beds.

The main tool for reviving the tourist flow remains the cashback programme, which provides for a refund of 20% of the ticket price. This year, 12., billion rubles will be allocated to increase the availability of tourist services, which is by 1,5 billion rubles more, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. Of these, 7,5 billion rubles have been allocated for the cashback programme. This summer, parents will have the opportunity to use cashback when organising children's recreation. According to Chernyshenko, it can cover 1,7 million children. Last year, they returned 5,3 billion rubles, Zarina Doguzova said.

New “sales window” to the Far East

Dmitry Chernyshenko promised to support the industry this autumn. He announced the launch of a new “sales window” of vouchers with a tourist cashback. Most likely, trips to the Far East will be subsidised.

“Cashback is a tool that supports demand in conditions of its (seasonal) decline. Another “sales window” of tours is planned for the autumn-winter period. The president has instructed to develop tourism in the Far East. We will announce later when we see the real state of things. The total volume of tourists, according to our calculations, this year is going to be 3,5 million people," he stated.

The head of the Federal Tourism Agency, Zarina Doguzova, later clarified that sales would begin in the second half of summer, and trips under the programme could be made from October 1.

“We plan to announce a “sales window” at the instruction of the government in the second half of summer, the possibility of a trip will be from October 1," she said.

The programme creates a huge economic effect for the regions, in total for two years the regions will receive about 200 billion rubles of direct and indirect multiplier effect in their economies, she added.

“We see that the demand for new destinations is growing, for the 'low' season a steady trend is forming for trips not only during peak periods, we also see the popularity of cruises — in particular, thanks to the tourist cashback. In addition to the traditional leading regions, new directions are emerging — Tatarstan, the Urals, Bashkiria, Perm and Altai Krai," Doguzova noted.

Let's go to the sea?

The speakers spoke about the upcoming summer vacation later, at a press conference. It turned out that it will be possible to go to the sea this summer only by train and by car: the southern airports of the country are likely to remain closed in the first half of the summer. To prevent a decline in the tourist flow in domestic directions, Russian Railways, on behalf of the government, are launching additional pairs of trains in all directions.

“The restrictions on flights to the south of the country in the summer season are compensated by rail transportation, in the Crimean direction they will increase by 100%," said Chernyshenko.

According to him, during the May holidays, the number of trains to Crimea was increased to 130 pairs.

“Thus, we make sure that there is no rush demand when it is impossible to buy tickets," said Dmitry Chernyshenko, adding that he tracks the demand for tickets to Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast. In total, it is planned to transport about 50 million people across Russia on long-distance trains in all directions, which is by 15% more than last year.

At the same time, the authorities are monitoring the situation on the highways so that there are no congestion and road repairs.

“Now the Federal Tourism Agency, Ministry of Transport, and Rosavtodor are monitoring the situation on the main federal highways to avoid congestion and planned road repairs for the period of increased demand, as well as to create places for intercepting parking," he said.

Prices are also not ignored. According to the deputy prime minister, the FAS is controlling prices in hotels.

“In general, the cost of rest in hotel rooms has increased by 6%. In some regions, there are peak values on May days up to 23%, but this is in the categories of elite accommodation, 5*, and we believe that this is acceptable. But we continue to monitor this together with the local authorities," said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The head of the Federal Tourism Agency forecasts that 30-31 million people will rest in the country in the upcoming summer season. Depending on the region, this is by 5-30% more than last year. Of these, about 16 million people will go to the southern resorts.