Half a billion investments and BRICS effect: what awaits tourism in Tatarstan

BRICS effect is expected to boost tourist flow to Kazan

A lot of attention was focused on Kazan during the BRICS summit, and the whole world watched the meeting of delegations from 36 countries and six international organisations, including 24 world leaders. The city itself, where such a large-scale event took place, aroused great interest, so representatives of the tourism industry hope to increase the tourist flow this year.

During the three days of the summit, Russian and foreign media published 60,700 reports about the event. The potential reach was 3.2 billion people. 418,000 publications have been posted on social networks, with a potential reach of 8.2 billion.

Although it is too early to compare the figures at the moment, experts are confident that the BRICS summit has fulfilled such expectations. “Of course, the BRICS summit in Kazan has helped to increase interest and attention to our city, . Daria Sannikova, the director of the Kazan Tourism Development Committee, told Realnoe Vremya.

Preparations for the international event began many months before the arrival of the guests, and 25 billion rubles were invested in the development of urban infrastructure from the federal and regional budgets alone, and this amount does not take into account business costs. Such investments in the city will bear fruit in increasing the tourist attractiveness of Kazan, experts assure.

New direct flights

Over the past year, five international flights have been launched from Kazan. Thus, Tatarstan has established routes connecting it with China, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and India. The cities of four countries are among the new destinations: Shanghai, Tbilisi, Batumi, Tashkent and Yerevan. Kazan became the third Russian metropolis after Moscow and St. Petersburg, which was connected with Shanghai by direct flight. The first plane from China to the capital of Tatarstan arrived on September 28.

The direction turned out to be in demand — only from September 28 to November 11, the passenger traffic of flights exceeded 7,000 people, said German Lerner, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan. The average aircraft load was about 80%.

Resort fee introduction announcement

Since January 1, 2025, a tourist tax has been introduced in Kazan, as well as in a number of other Russian cities. In the capital of Tatarstan, guests will have to pay 1% of the cost of staying in hotels and hostels. The minimum fee established by federal law will be 100 rubles per day.

For a tourist, the tax amount will be included in the room rate. At the same time, persons under the age of 18, beneficiaries and other categories of citizens will be exempt from paying the resort fee.

According to preliminary calculations, the new tax will attract more than 150 million rubles to the budget of Kazan in the first year. The money will be used to improve infrastructure, public spaces, and promote the city's tourism brand. However, this new measure might deter visitors, tourism industry representatives fear.

At the same time, additional financing of the tourism infrastructure will only benefit, Sergei Ivanov is sure:

“This is new for Russia. Of course, we understand that any municipality needs funds to develop tourism, especially for Kazan. The introduction of the tax will provide additional funds to support the tourism infrastructure. This provides an additional resource for creating comfortable conditions for our guests.”

Half a billion rubles for tourism development

In 2024, 325.8 million rubles were allocated in Tatarstan for the implementation of the national project 'Tourism and Hospitality Industry'. The main areas of financing include the creation of modular non-capital accommodation facilities, the provision of subsidies for the implementation of tourism projects and the training of specialists.

Six projects have already received a subsidy of 56.8 million rubles for the purchase of modular houses, which is 42 rooms. The implementation of 10 projects funded in 2023, for which 113.7 million rubles were allocated, is coming to an end.

Tatarstan was also provided with a single subsidy in the amount of 168 million rubles, intended to support the regions under the subsidy mechanism, which is redistributed based on competitive procedures.

The regional authorities are also investing in advertising Tatarstan's tourism opportunities. Thus, 5.7 million rubles were allocated for promotion in Moscow, and 4.8 million rubles — St. Petersburg

Promotional materials will appear on at least five double-decker City Sightseeing tourist buses in Moscow and at least eight in St. Petersburg The posters were displayed on them between November 1 and December 31, 2024. Buses run along the route daily. They were covered with advertising materials on the entire rear surface of the body, with an area of at least 8.64 square metres.

Such investments are yielding results — the tourist flow to Kazan has increased by 7%. In the first 10 months, 3.9 million tourists visited the city, in the same period of 2023 — 3.6 million, Daria Sannikova told Realnoe Vremya.

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  Sergey Ivanov Chairman of the Tatarstan State Committee on Tourism

  Overall, I rate the results of the year very positively. The republic has once again become the centre of world events. We see that there is an increase in the flow in all the centres. The geography of arrivals is also growing. People come to us from almost all regions of Russia.

  Of course, the BRICS summit has played a role. Many participants came from 36 countries. In preparation for the event, the entire tourism industry, primarily hotels, underwent a reset.

  We continue to certify guides. From my point of view, this also improves the quality of travel services. Since passing the certification requires knowledge in the field of history, culture and economy of our republic, our guides are becoming more professional, they have new information.

  Another factor is the development of an inter-regional direct river transportation system. There have become a lot more flights this year. Routes from Kazan to Saratov, Ulyanovsk, and Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan have already appeared.

  The most powerful factor is the M12 highway, which opened last year. A huge number of people come to Tatarstan using it. These are not only Moscow and Moscow Region, but also the north-western regions, Karelia, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Vladimir regions.

  Outlook: to continue to develop the tourism infrastructure. We actively participate in the national tourism of hospitality project. Accordingly, we provide subsidies from the funds of the programme to entrepreneurs for the creation of modular accommodation facilities. We also provide support to campsites with a single subsidy. Developing eco-tourism is a trend for the coming years. Therefore, there is a task to create comfortable conditions for those who come by car.

  We will work to increase the foreign tourist flow. Thanks to the BRICS summit, there was a lot of media coverage. There are a lot of publications about Kazan and Tatarstan in general. We expect to use this effect to attract visitors from abroad, primarily from Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

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  Daria Sannikova Director of the Kazan Tourism Development Committee

  The year 2024 has become an outstanding and one of the most fruitful years for the tourism industry in Kazan," Daria Sannikova, the director of the Kazan Tourism Development Committee, expressed her opinion in a conversation with Realnoe Vremya. “We have held more than one international event and, in this regard, welcomed a large number of guests, as well as increased the recognition of our city on the at the international level.

  A number of international events were held in Kazan this year: Games of the Future, Islamic Forum, BRICS Games, congress of the Association of BRICS Municipalities, Kazan Digital Week, and of course, BRICS Summit.

  Preparations for these events also affected the work of tourism facilities, improving the quality of services and services, a lot of work was done to improve the infrastructure, improve the quality of service at the facilities and adaptability to the various requests of guests. For example, in October alone, representatives from 36 countries and six international organisations attended the BRICS Summit. We respect the culture of each country and accommodated our guests taking into account traditional features. Painstaking and difficult joint work has been done, but now we can say that Kazan is ready to receive tourists with any requests.

  This year, the number of rooms in Kazan has been updated, new hotels, new restaurants and cultural facilities have been opened, public spaces have been improved, roads have been repaired and much more.

  It is worth noting that this year Kazan was recognised as the best city for conducting a hotel business with a population of over 1 million people, which is certainly an indicator of the state of the tourism industry in our city.

  It is planned to celebrate the year 2025 with an even greater flow of tourists. Kazan is always a favourite city for New Year's holidays, which makes us happy every year.

  We have priority tasks for the development of water and children's tourism. We are working in this direction and hope to implement successful projects in this area next year.

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  Zufar Gayazov President of the Association of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Tatarstan

  The whole year is one big key event, we have been working intensively. A lot of tourists came to Kazan and Tatarstan as a whole during the year, without being tied to any specific events.

  All the cataclysms in the world, the political and economic situation, the dollar exchange rate, the increase in the cost of flights — all this has affected tourism in Tatarstan and throughout Russia. It is cheaper to travel in Russia, so the majority of the country's citizens travelled there.

  BRICS has given the world an opportunity to learn about Kazan, its brand, and the fact that there is such a city in the Republic of Tatarstan. The city has become recognisable on the world market. I think this will give an additional boost to the arrival of tourists. But this story is short: for foreigners, winter in Kazan is not a tourist season. By the next summer season, you need to try very hard to remind yourself.

  What has the republic done to attract tourists? Every action had a positive effect. In general, something cannot be singled out separately. The tasks that the government and the responsible authorities are gradually setting are being worked out correctly. But, as they say, don't count your chickens before they're hatched. We will provide figures in January — February. I think the numbers will be significantly higher than last year.

  Despite the good results, we should continue to work. We need to develop the sphere further, attract new tourists — it's a constant job. You can't achieve any result and then do nothing for a year or two. Other million-plus cities are coming on our heels: Samara and Nizhny Novgorod are also engaged in promotion. Therefore, we also need to continue moving forward, we need to work.

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  Sergey Pasechnik founder of CompAnion SP travel company

  As for Kazan and Tatarstan, most of the events are related to BRICS: landscaping projects, new interchanges, hotels. However, this has not yet affected tourism in any way — everything is important in the long run.

  Speaking of difficulties, the time for obtaining a visa has increased. Previously, we issued it in a month, but now the process takes up to three months. There are also problems with the logistics of the flight. Accordingly, it has become more difficult for Russians to relax abroad, so domestic tourism has increased.

  Overall, the year went well. We have fulfilled all our plans and implemented all our programmes. The year can be considered successful.

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  Lilia Savelyeva Director General of Inteltur Kazan travel company

  There is a certain outflow of customers from foreign destinations. After all, the dollar is rising, flights are becoming more expensive and their logistics are becoming more complicated. Many people now cannot afford what they could afford before. The outbound tourist flow, in my opinion, has decreased by about 70%.

  On the other hand, tourism within Russia is growing. Many destinations are developing now, and Russians are travelling around the country. I really like what is happening now: new hotels, restaurants are being built, new facilities and destinations are emerging. We have a lot to see. I think the domestic tourist flow has increased two or three times.

  I like that the focus is shifting to domestic tourism. We need to keep moving in this direction. Of course, I would like more hotels to raise their standards, unfortunately, not everyone can boast of this. But one way or another, the country is developing in this direction.

  Separately, I would like to highlight the new direct flight Kazan — Shanghai. This is a big event because we don't have many routes open right now. The new flight opens up great opportunities, and a new Chinese consulate in Kazan has also been opened.

  Next year, I would like to pay more attention to travelling around Russia. There are plans to expand this area.