The hotel chain Cosmos Hotel Group received a project for the construction of a hotel in Pskov

Cosmos Hotel Group, controlled by AFK Sistema, became the owner of a three-star hotel construction project in Pskov, having bought it from Marta Bakai, the daughter of Russian businessman of Ukrainian origin Igor Bakai. It may be necessary to invest up to 1.5 billion rubles in the construction of a hotel. But the market has doubts about the project: interest in traveling to Pskov is now declining both on the part of sightseers and business tourists.

Cosmos Hotel Group, controlled by Cosmos Hotel Group, at the end of August 2023 became the owner of a 100% stake in Ibis Pskov LLC, Kommersant discovered in Kartoteka.ru. This structure previously announced the construction of an international class hotel in Pskov.

Cosmos Hotel Group told Kommersant that they plan to build the city’s first three-star chain hotel with 120 rooms.

Stanislav Ivashkevich, managing partner of Ivashkevich Hospitality, suggests that the cost of the project company was low – about 100 million rubles. Another 1.2–1.5 billion rubles will need to be invested in the construction of the facility, he believes.

Initially, Marta Bakai acted as the owner of Ibis Pskov LLC. It was not possible to contact her. Mrs. Bakai is the daughter of Igor Bakai, the Pskov Province newspaper reported earlier. According to media reports, Igor Bakai is a Russian businessman of Ukrainian origin who built a political career when Leonid Kuchma was President of Ukraine. He was the first head of the board of the state company Naftogaz of Ukraine. In 2005, Mr. Bakai moved to Russia, and in 2020 he was convicted on charges of fraud.

From the name of the legal entity “Ibis Pskov” it can be assumed that the object was planned to be launched under the Ibis brand of the French group Accor. The company has suspended new projects in Russia. Regional Director of Accor in Russia, Georgia and the CIS, Alexis Delaroff, explained to Kommersant that the group did not sign contracts to open hotels in Pskov. Using the Ibis brand in the name of the project company in the group, according to him, is prohibited.

Cosmos Hotel Group clarified that the land for construction has already been determined: it is the historical center of Pskov, 2–3 km from the railway station.

According to the investment portal of the Pskov region, the project is located on Kuznetskaya street, 33. President of the Cosmos Hotel Group hotel chain Alexander Biba explained that the start date for construction will be determined later, calling the new hotel in Pskov an important strategic project for the group.

However, the flow of tourists to the Pskov region is not so significant now. According to Rosstat, 273.5 thousand people stayed in hotels in the region in January-July 2023, which is 1% less year-on-year. At the same time, in Russia as a whole, overnight stays in hotels during this period increased by 14.4%, to 44.1 million people. In the Northwestern Federal District, which includes Pskov, the increase was 36%, to 6.5 million. The general director of the Dolphin tour operator Sergey Romashkin calls the interest of classic sightseeing tourists to Pskov restrained: travelers usually go to the region on short tours, combining it with visiting Veliky Novgorod. He notes that there are no problems with accommodation in the city now, although a small quality hotel can divert traffic from other objects.

Mr. Romashkin does not rule out that the Pskov region may be of interest for business trips. But the director of the MICE department of Continent Express Olga Gulibina doubts that the destination can be called in demand for business tourism: this year the demand is lower than last year. “But given the development of the region, the growth in demand for Russian destinations, in the near future it may become more attractive for business events,” she does not exclude. So far, according to the expert, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and the IT sector most often travel to the Pskov region.

Alexandra Mertsalova