Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting of the relevant Government Commission for Tourism Development, which includes all regions of Russia, as part of the industry Tourism Day at the Russia Exhibition and Forum. At the event, the results of the work of the tourism industry for 2023 were summed up and plans for 2024 were discussed.
“By the decision of the President, the national project “Tourism and the Hospitality Industry” has been implemented since 2021. As part of this national project, the tourism industry has received unprecedented funding and conditions for development. If 3.7 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for tourism in 2018, then 67.7 billion rubles in 2022. This is an 18-fold increase. In 2023 and 2024, the total amount of financing will be about 100 billion rubles. Thanks to the implementation of the activities of the national project, the number of trips of our citizens around the country is growing. By the end of 2023, we will tentatively reach 78 million tourist trips – more than in the pre-pandemic 2019. By 2030, the goal is to increase this figure to 140 million trips per year. I am sure that together we will be able to ensure this,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov stressed that with the increase in the number of tourist trips, business revenues are also growing. For example, hotels and hostels have increased revenues by more than 20% in 12 months. Building up the number of rooms is one of the priority areas today, which, among other things, support measures are concentrated on. One of the key programs is the concessional lending program.
“Since December 1, the third stage of the program of preferential lending to large hotels has been launched. We have expanded support for the creation of year-round amusement parks, water parks, and ski resorts. Already, the Ministry of Energy has received more than 100 projects with a loan portfolio of 318 billion rubles. Of these, 93 projects are hotels with 21 thousand rooms, 8 projects are ski infrastructure, 7 projects are water parks,” Maxim Reshetnikov said.
The heads of the regions spoke about the development of tourism in their territories and shared their plans. During the meeting, the Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Gleb Nikitin, announced the implementation of the joint project “Lessons with travel” with the Volgograd region. He noted that the project is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad. All 10th grade students of Nizhny Novgorod schools and their Volgograd peers take part in it.
“This is an educational process of a new format: conducting lessons, primarily on the history of Russia, during a tourist trip. In the current academic year, the project is being implemented jointly with the Volgograd Region and Russian Railways in places associated with the Battle of Stalingrad and the people’s militia led by Minin and Pozharsky. Next academic year it will be dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad. Nizhny Novgorod schoolchildren will be able to visit St. Petersburg,” Gleb Nikitin said.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted such an initiative, calling on the heads of subjects to scale it up.
“All regions should take note of the experience of the Nizhny Novgorod and Volgograd regions in creating end-to-end interregional routes. The cross-development of tourism is important from the point of view of popularizing the history and culture of our country. Children receive vivid impressions and knowledge within the framework of such initiatives. I suggest scaling up this experience,” Dmitry Chernyshenko said.
The government commission also considered issues related to measures to support the industry, in particular the program of subsidizing the construction of modular hotels. Following the meeting, Dmitry Chernyshenko instructed to work out the issue and prepare proposals on the procedure and criteria for selecting projects in 2024 to create modular hotels with construction dates in 2025-2026. It is recommended that the subjects send to the Ministry of Economic Development a schedule for the introduction of such accommodation facilities for the current year, as well as a list of activities planned for implementation within the framework of a single subsidy directed to the regions for tourism.
In addition, the participants of the government commission considered the issues of improving the business climate in tourism. As part of this work, the Ministry of Economic Development has been instructed to supplement the roadmap with several measures. In particular, it is planned to introduce the concept of a “tourist bus” and ensure that it can move along dedicated lanes for vehicles and free parking.
