The State Duma named the main directions of outbound tourism in 2023

Russia is counting on easing the visa regime for tourists with China and Iran in 2023, as well as opening new destinations in air traffic, Sangadzhi Tarbaev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, told Vedomosti. According to him, the popularity of certain directions will depend, among other things, on the foreign policy situation.

“For example, in 2022 we cooperated as closely as possible with Turkey, including on air traffic with Russia and banking services for Russian citizens. Thus, Turkey remained in the list of the most popular countries for holidays. Our citizens are willing to rest in the UAE, Thailand, Egypt. Visa regime relaxations for tourists are being worked out on a reciprocal basis with China and Iran,” he said. In September 2022, the representative of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Leyla Ajdari claimedthat Tehran and Moscow will cancel group visas for their tourists in January 2023.

The CIS countries continue to be popular destinations, in particular, because of the ability to use the airports of these countries as transit hubs to countries with which air traffic has been terminated, Tarbaev noted.

According to the head of the committee, domestic tourism has “great opportunities and challenges”. Russia can offer unique tourism products, such as the Arctic, he stressed. “As for the development of individual regions, I have said more than once that Russia should be viewed as an asymmetric federation and develop various territories or regions according to different scenarios, taking as a guide the successful world scenarios of a seaside resort, a large metropolis or a national park,” Tarbaev said.

In December 2022, he proposed considering the gambling business as one of the areas of event tourism in Russia, in order to make it easier to develop. Gambling business within the domestic tourism industry “pulls other directions – forums, concerts, etc.,” the deputy noted.

Issues related to the development of domestic tourism were discussed on January 24 at a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with members of the government. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, in particular, offered zero VAT for tour operators for domestic and inbound tourism in order to synchronize this support measure with the exemption for hotels. This measure is proposed to be issued “backdated” – from January 1, 2023 to July 2027.

“We urgently need tour operators for the development of the tourism industry, because they roll out new routes and guarantee a comprehensive product. These are backbone organizations in the industry,” Reshetnikov said. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed that his ministry had approved the initiative.

According to preliminary data from Rosstat, the number of tourist trips with hotel accommodation in 2022 increased by 8% compared to 2021 and amounted to about 62 million people, informed Reshetnikov. This figure has almost reached the pre-Covid level (65 million trips), despite the closure of airports in a number of southern cities of the country, the minister said.

“After the introduction of zero VAT for hotels last year, we followed the situation on the market and quickly realized that the measure, which should have been a breakthrough for the tourism industry, does not have the desired effect. Although accommodation is one of the key elements of recreation, hotel services are associated with tour operators. In fact, it turned out that tour operators pay tax to the budget from the entire industry turnover,” Tarbaev said. If tour operators are exempted from paying VAT, the effect will be “noticeable” in the coming season, he suggested.