At the State Council with the participation of Vladimir Putin argued about the development of tourism

President Vladimir Putin held a State Council Presidium on the topic of supporting the tourism industry in Russia, where he discussed the development of the industry with governors and members of the government. The meeting was held in Primorsky Krai, where Eastern Economic Forum.

Putin said that the development of domestic tourism is significant, it has enormous potential, it contributes to the replenishment of the budgets of regions and municipalities. According to him, tourism affects the development of more than 50 related industries and creates development prospects for small and medium-sized businesses. The President said that Russians are in great demand for vacations by the sea, so it is necessary to discuss the creation of large seaside resorts, where up to 10 million people could rest a year. In particular, he proposed the creation of new large resorts on the coast of the Azov, Baltic, Caspian and Black Seas, as well as Primorye. He drew attention to the creation of the Kayakent resort in Dagestan.

At the presidium of the State Council, a discussion began on the creation of a “single window” – an agency that would be responsible for the development of tourism. The head of the Primorsky Territory, the chairman of the State Council Commission on Tourism, Physical Culture and Sports, Oleg Kozhemyako, said that now state management in the field of tourism is entrusted to Rostourism, which employs only 100 people, many other departments also oversee issues related to tourism: “Sometimes even for us, the governors, it is difficult to figure out whose competence is the issue. He was supported by the head of the Federal Tourism Agency Zarina Doguzova. But Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko opposed it. According to him, since more than 50 related sectors of the economy are involved in the tourism industry, it is difficult to concentrate all powers in a single department. He added that now 75% of the funds that are spent on construction in the tourism sector are supervised by the Ministry of Construction, so he does not consider it necessary to change this system.

Also, the discussion was caused by Kozhemyako’s proposal to provide grants for the construction of hotels with less than 120 rooms. Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad Region, said the same: “Experts noted that the average number of rooms in a hotel is 25-50 rooms. Therefore, we propose to introduce another mechanism – the payment of grants for partial compensation of costs for the construction of hotels with less than 120 rooms. At the same time, in order to avoid unfinished projects, grants should be paid only after receiving the commissioning certificate.” They were also supported by the president of Opora Rossii, Alexander Kalinin, who said that tourism in many regions is a seasonal business and small hotels pay off in a season. Kalinin also proposed extending the omitted taxation system to enterprises that can employ up to 250 people, and not up to 100 people, as it is now. Chernyshenko said that for the construction of such hotels there is a program of concessional lending to small and medium-sized businesses with the best interest rates on loans. Putin said that this topic should be discussed with the Finance Ministry.

Doguzova at the State Council said that foreign tourists all over the world make money. In addition, the arrival of foreign tourists is an opportunity to show the country, she said. According to her, Rostourism would be glad to see tourists from unfriendly countries in Russia, so she suggested returning to the issue of introducing an electronic visa (the program was suspended due to the pandemic). Putin generally supported Doguzova’s idea, saying that the Foreign Ministry uses the principle of reciprocity in the issue of visas. However, he believes that in this matter there is no need to “cling to reciprocity.”

Also, the State Council raised the issue of allowing the corporation “Tourism.RF” to be able to make transactions with federal property, bypassing the stage of the auction. This idea was supported by Chernyshenko – according to him, this is an analogy with Dom.RF. The Deputy Prime Minister believes that this will reduce the time for the construction of tourist facilities. The President generally supported this idea.

Earlier at the WEF, Chernyshenko said that from 2023 to 2030, more than 462 billion rubles are planned for direct budget investments in the Russian tourism industry. “If in 2020 we had funding of 11 billion, then this year it is already more than 75 billion, and these numbers will only increase,” Chernyshenko said. Doguzova at a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council said that employment in tourism has increased 6 times since 2015 – from 500,000 to 3 million people. According to her, one job in tourism creates one and a half jobs in related industries.