Rostourism announced plans to build a seaside resort in Dagestan

Against the backdrop of a steady increase in tourist flow to Dagestan, the federal authorities began to discuss the construction of a new resort on the coast of the Caspian Sea. About it informs Kommersant, citing sources in the industry. The information was also confirmed to the newspaper by Rostourism.

According to the source, the project to create a resort in Dagestan was discussed last week at a meeting on the development of domestic tourism with presidential aide Igor Levitin. The interlocutor claims that the head of the region, Sergei Melikov, mentioned at a meeting about a suitable site in the Kayakent region.

Other sources of the newspaper stated that the corporation “Tourism.RF” and the federal authorities could take part in the project. One of the interlocutors clarified that so far “these are only outlines.” Tourism.RF, the offices of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Igor Levitin, and the press service of the head of Dagestan did not respond to the publication’s request.

However, the information was confirmed by the Federal Tourism Agency. According to the department, the issue of creating a new seaside resort in Dagestan is being worked out with local authorities. The agency clarified that the region has conditions “favorable for a beach holiday,” including warm seas, a wide sandy strip and a long season. According to a representative of Rostourism, the development of new locations is due to the congestion of other Russian resorts in the summer season and their outdated infrastructure.

Alexei Kozhevnikov, Vice-President of Opora Rossii, believes that a plot of about 200 hectares is needed to implement such a project. He adds that there are also free plots of this size in the vicinity of Anapa and in the Crimea. According to him, under such conditions, it is possible to build a year-round resort complex with a total fund of approximately 30,000 rooms. The construction budget will be $5 billion, Kozhevnikov calculated.

Vadim Prasov, Vice-President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, believes that due to the growing popularity of Dagestan among Russian tourists, investors’ interest in developing hotels in the region may be high. The success of the project is also prophesied by the founder of Ivashkevich Hospitality Stanislav Ivashkevich. According to him, Dagestan can become an analogue of Sochi, and it will be loaded not only by tourists from the central part of the country, but also by residents of the regions of the North Caucasus.

Interest in tourist trips to Dagestan has grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. By data authorities of the region, in 2021 more than 1 million travelers visited the republic (30% more than in 2020). The Intourist company noted that in June 2022 the demand for trips to Dagestan increased. Thus, the region entered the top 5 most popular domestic Russian destinations for tourists.

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