Tourism in Tatarstan 2024: nine tasks for 4,3 million guests

So far, only republican money will be directed to the development of tourism

The state programme “Development of tourism and hospitality in the Republic of Tatarstan” has been valid since 2014. During all this time, it has been repeatedly updated and supplemented with new items. The last time the changes were made on June 19 of this year, however, they were not so significant. For example, a month and a half ago, the change in the timing of its implementation was not mentioned yet — in the current version, the programme is divided into two stages:

• Stage I: 2014-2017;
• Stage II: 2018-2025.

The proposed project should change these deadlines by adding an additional year and rearranging the main limits:

• Stage I: 2014-2023;
• Stage II: 2024-2026.

According to the new document, the volume of financing at the first stage amounted to 7,2 billion rubles. In the next three years, they are expected to spend another 309 million rubles on the implementation of all measures. Of this amount, 102,4 million are for next year, 103,2 million — in 2025 and another 103,2 million — in 2026. The amounts of funds budgeted for the next two years correspond to those indicated in the current document.

Thus, funding will grow only at the expense of the amount that will be allocated in 2026. Financing of the state programme in the remaining periods will remain unchanged. At the same time, only the republican budget is designated as the source of funds for the entire second stage. However, this may still change.

At various times, the programme was funded by other sources, such as the federal budget (2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022). The total volume of its investments amounted to 691 million rubles. Another 5,1 million were attracted from municipal budgets (2014-2015). And 5,1 billion were received from extra-budgetary funds (2015-2017 and 2020-2022).

Tatarstan is to solve nine new tasks in the tourism industry

The goal of the programme has remained unchanged: to increase the competitiveness of the tourist complex of Tatarstan in the Russian and international tourist markets with the effective use of the developing infrastructure, cultural, historical, and natural potential, as well as event tourism and the hospitality industry. But as for the tasks, their list has not just been expanded, but practically rewritten. It is suggested that it will look like this:

• Formation of a favourable tourist image of the republic, increase in the volume and variety of tourist services provided to the population.
• Development of the tourist and recreational complex of Tatarstan, including:

stimulating investment in the construction of new collective accommodation facilities and other tourist infrastructure;

creation of the new tourist territory Laishevo on the territory of Laishevsky district;

creation of projects of recreational zones and tourist and recreational clusters on natural territories in the areas such as Agryzsky, Nizhnekamsky, Laishevsky, Verkhneuslonsky, Kamsko-Ustinsky, Zelenodolsky, Zainsky, Mamadyshsky;

creation of new outdoor recreation facilities, development of a system of tourist trails, including the implementation of the pilot project of the Volga Trail;

conducting educational and awareness-raising activities for small and medium-sized businesses to create and launch recreation facilities in natural areas.

• Increasing transport accessibility and tourist facilities located on its territory.
• Development of the project of interregional tourist routes The Great Volga Way.
• Development of event tourism.
• Promotion of tourism potential in promising tourist markets.
• Improving the quality of the republican tourist product, the level of hospitality when serving tourists at the facilities of the tourism industry, taking into account existing domestic and international standards.
• Introduction of information technologies in the tourism industry, including tourist flow monitoring systems.
• Improvement of the state policy in the field of tourism and hospitality.

Until recently, the programme assumed only five main tasks, which did not involve specific projects involving tourist routes, territories, or districts.

Starting next year, Tatarstan starts counting the number of tourists in hotels

The main indicator of the programme's performance is the volume of tourist flow. Thus, according to the old — current version, 3,7 million people are expected to visit the republic in 2024. The new document says that next year Tatarstan expects 4,3 million tourists. In 2025, their number should grow to 4,6 million more (4,2 million according to previous calculations — ed.), and in 2026 — to 4,9 million.

The same applies to the volume of paid tourist services, which, as previously reported, should reach 14,5 billion rubles next year, and 16,1 billion the year after that. Now it is planned that in 2024 it will amount to 21,9 billion, in 2025 — 22,6 billion, and in 2026 — 23,2 billion rubles.

At the same time, one of the indicators will still remain at the same level as it was set a few years ago. We are talking about increasing the number of specialists trained in the field of tourism and hospitality. Every year, as in the past, the year before last, it will be 500 people.

At the same time, a new graph has appeared — an increase in the number of persons placed in collective accommodation facilities of Tatarstan. According to the information provided, 2,7 million people are expected to stay in hotels of the republic in 2024. In 2025, their number will rise to 2,9 million, and in 2026 — to 3,1 million. At the same time, this figure reaches 2,6 million this year.

Let us remind that 1,856,070 tourists visited Tatarstan in January-June 2023. This is by 2,8%, or 54,2 thousand people, less than in the same period last year, Realnoe Vremya calculated, having studied official statistics. For example, in the first half of 2022, 1,910,313 travellers visited the republic.

In January 2023, 273,765 tourists visited Tatarstan. In February, 271,322 people visited the republic. In March, the region received 313,986 travellers, in April — 307,039, and in May — 323,310. During the first month of summer, 366,648 people visited it. Thus, in June, it was registered the largest tourist flow to the region in six months.

From 2014 to 2022, the tourist flow in the republic increased by 56%

As mentioned above, the state programme for the development of the tourism sector is aimed at the comprehensive development of this industry in Tatarstan by creating conditions for the formation and promotion of a high-quality and competitive product.

The implementation of the programme's activities over the entire period ensured an increase in the tourist flow to the republic by 56% — from 2,5 million people in 2014 to 3,9 million in 2022. Thus, tourist brands have become famous in Russia and in the international arena: Kazan: Land of 1001 Delights, Kazan is the third capital of Russia, Kazan is the gastronomic capital of Russia, Island-town of Sviyazhsk. Look at how history lives, the Great Bolgar— ancient civilisation on the Volga.

At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic, as well as sanctions restrictions from unfriendly countries, significantly reduced the indicators of inbound tourism and made it difficult to do business inside the country itself due to the withdrawal of online booking aggregators from the market, the termination of the activities of international hotel operators, and the complication of the situation with air transport.

However, Tatarstan managed to maintain the pace of development of this sphere and exceed the level of the pre-pandemic 2019 by the main indicators. For example, according to the results of 2022, the tourist flow to the republic reached 3,9 million people, the volume of paid services, taking into account related industries, reached 39,5 billion rubles. The region is the first in terms of tourist flow in the Volga Federal District. According to the same indicator, it is in the top 10 among all subjects of Russia — the republic is the seventh after Krasnodar Krai, the Moscow and Leningrad regions, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Crimea.

As of January 1, 2023, there are 114 tour operators in the republic that are in the Unified Federal Register. Tatarstan is also considered one of the regions with the most developed hotel infrastructure and, again, is a leader in the Volga Federal District, including in a number of key indicators characterising the state of the hotel market. At the beginning of this year, 582 collective accommodation facilities for 25,3 thousand rooms are operating in the region. At the same time, the average occupancy of hotels last year was 73%.