The Ministry of Economic Development, together with representatives of hotel chains, the Russian Union of the Tourism Industry and the regions, will prepare proposals for the modernization of the resort fee experiment from 2025. This issue was discussed at a meeting held at the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. The experiment on collecting a resort fee is being conducted in the Altai, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, as well as St. Petersburg, and ends in 2024.
Taking into account the analysis of the results of the experiment and feedback from regional governments, hotel chains and experts, it is proposed to extend the established practice to all regions of the country in the form of a tourist fee, when a fixed fee will be charged from a hotel room, and not from a resident. Whether or not to apply the tourist tax, as well as its amount, will be finally decided by the government of a particular subject of the country. And the money collected from the collection will be sent to the budgets of municipalities, where it will be spent in a targeted manner. That is, they will be aimed only at the creation, repair, reconstruction of tourist infrastructure facilities and tourist displays: everything that makes our regions comfortable, interesting and safe for tourists and their residents (creation of park areas, reconstruction of terraced areas, allocation of pedestrian and bicycle paths, construction of fountains).
The relevant amendments to the Tax and Budget Code of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation will be prepared and submitted next week for consideration by the Ministry of Finance.
“It is proposed to grant all regions of the country the right from January 1, 2025 to establish or not to establish a tourist tax on their territory. It will be credited to the budget of the municipality and can be directed exclusively to the design, construction, reconstruction, maintenance of tourist infrastructure. Such a mechanism is transparent for both business and tourists in the region. Information about all hotels and inns that pay tourist tax will be aggregated in a Single list of classified accommodation facilities operated by Rosaccreditation,” said Dmitry Vakhrukov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
“The mechanism of tourist collection, which operated in four regions of the country, was quite laborious for hotels, since a special account was opened. Large hotels were forced to allocate a separate person who would draw up the necessary documents. In addition, in order to apply a discount for a number of categories of citizens, it was necessary to scan all their documents granting such a right, it was necessary to scan. This was a significant enough burden on the staff, especially during peak seasons. Now that the tourist tax is transferred from a person to a hotel, it becomes much easier for us. The mechanism itself is simple and clear, this is especially important for hotel chains that have hotels in different regions of the country. Also, this mechanism, in addition to the functionality of attracting additional targeted funds to small municipalities, where the number of tourists significantly exceeds the number of local residents, will facilitate the exit of small accommodation facilities from the gray zone, which often do not show a real load,” he said Alexey Musakin, Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry.
The object of taxation will be the number of rooms in hotels and hotels, and the rate will be set by the subject. The base rate will be about 65 rubles per room per day, that is, 6 thousand rubles per quarter. At the same time, at the same time, subjects are given the right to apply a reduction coefficient from 0 to 1, depending on the seasonality and occupancy of accommodation facilities. For example, regional authorities can reduce or reset the tax during the low season.
“In general, I support the introduction of a tourist tax, because we need some way to reduce the gap between the resources of small tourist centers such as Sheregesh, Belokurikha, the cities of the Golden Ring, and the giant tourist flow, where it will compensate for the budget deficit for the development of the tourism sector. For example, 10 thousand people live in Suzdal, and 2 million tourists come. It is important that the tax does not become a levy only for conscientious hoteliers, but encourages small market participants, including guest houses and hostels, to leave the gray zone. I really hope that with this decision, the Cabinet of Ministers will rule out a situation where unscrupulous players manipulate data on the actual stay of guests, and only those who work legally pay tax,” commented the founder and owner of the Azimut Hotels chain Alexander Klyachin.
The tourist tax will be administered by the tax service, so businesses will not have to take additional actions to report to the Federal Tax Service.
“As the largest hotel operator in the world We are confident that this approach will help to maintain a balance between the interests of local residents and guests and will contribute to the further development of a comfortable and exciting holiday throughout Russia. We always support and positively evaluate the initiatives of the state aimed at creating and developing tourism infrastructure in the regions. In our opinion, the introduction of a tourist fee will contribute to the improvement not only of tourist display facilities, but also to improving the quality of tourist infrastructure near hotels and inns. In addition, such an initiative is a widespread international practice with a proven positive impact on the development of local tourism infrastructure, which is important for travelers. We really hope that the approach to the implementation of this initiative in a number of regions will be balanced,” said the President of Cosmos Hotel Group Alexander Biba.
The tourist tax on a hotel room is levied in many countries of the world. Based on the results of the analysis of data from 30 states, it was found that the proposed The rate in Russia is one of the lowest.
