Investor interest in purchasing tourism infrastructure increased by almost 65% over the year
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An increase in the number of trips across Russia, an increase in the profitability of the hotel business and government support measures are stimulating investor demand for tourism infrastructure. Their interest in acquiring an existing business in this area increased by almost 65% over the year. Risks for business remain a relatively large amount of investment and a possible overestimation of the potential of a particular location.
Interest in purchasing ready-made businesses and franchises in the tourism sector increased by 64.8% year-on-year in 2023, Avito calculated. The figure significantly exceeded the average growth in interest in buying a business on the platform, which increased by 15.6% over the year. In terms of the growth rate of demand, tourism assets were second only to online stores, the demand for the purchase of which had been growing earlier (see “Kommersant” dated April 24, 2023). Avito includes hotels, recreation centers, glampings, etc. in the category of tourism business.
The head of the “ready-made business and franchising” category at Avito, Ilya Dudkovsky, attributes the dynamics to the sharply increased demand for tourism services, which creates potential for entrepreneurs. We may also talk about upgrading existing facilities or expanding the fund to attract an additional flow of guests, he adds. According to Avito, interest in proposals for finding investors in the tourism sector has grown 2.6 times over the year, and for partnerships – more than seven times.
Franshiza.ru expert Anna Rozhdestvenskaya points out that hotels rarely actively develop through a franchise due to the relatively high start-up costs, and investment proposals, within which you can buy part of a hotel or even several rooms, are a more popular format. According to her calculations, in 2023 the number of offers for glamping, hotel and apartment franchises increased by 72%. Often a franchise for a brand and an investment opportunity are offered simultaneously, the expert says.
According to CORE.XP, the volume of investment in hotel real estate in the Russian Federation in 2023 increased by 45% year-on-year, to RUB 33 billion. This year, consultants expect a figure in the range of 25–60 billion rubles, or 5–10% of the total volume of investments in real estate. “We have noted an increased activity of requests for consulting on tourism infrastructure projects, the construction and launch periods of which are scheduled for 2024–2027. If they are implemented, we will see investment activity in the segment in the next two to three years,” says Ksenia Nepomnyashchikh, senior consultant of the hospitality industry division of CORE.XP.
Regional director of the Nikoliers strategic consulting department, Vladislav Nikolaev, calls recreational real estate one of the most dynamic industries today in terms of the emergence of new projects. The expert attributes this to the growth in tourist flow: the number of trips to some regions has increased 1.5 times since 2019. This also helps to increase the profitability of hotels. NF Group partner Olga Shirokova says that the average payback period for hotel projects per year has decreased from 12–14 years to 10–12 years. Commonwealth Partnership (CMWP) partner Marina Merezhko adds that demand in many locations exceeds supply: up to 30–35% of tourists are accommodated in the “gray” sector.
At the same time, according to Ms. Merezhko, there are more small investors on the market, including due to government support measures. In 2022, 4.2 billion rubles were allocated for the construction of modular hotels, and in 2023 – already 8 billion rubles, she recalls. But the authorities’ interest in this segment, according to the expert, is unlikely to last. “The long-term development strategy is multifunctional tourist clusters aimed at year-round operation,” says Marina Merezhko.
Ksenia Nepomnyashchikh warns that the payback of tourism projects is influenced by location, concept, tax or credit preferences. The investment size remains relatively high. Mrs. Merezhko estimates the cost of a country all-season complex at least 2–3 billion rubles. According to her, difficulties may arise due to the low speed of preparing documentation for obtaining preferential loans, the lack of a detailed concept and an overestimation of the potential of the selected location.
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