Half a billion investments and BRICS effect: what awaits tourism in Tatarstan
What challenges the travel industry faced in 2024 and how they are preparing for new challenges in 2025
The past year has been marked by a series of major international events for Tatarstan's tourism sector, the most significant of which was the BRICS summit. An event of this magnitude has increased the recognition of Tatarstan and significantly fuelled the interest of tourists in the republic and Kazan. Representatives of the tourism industry expect to reap the benefits of this fame in the coming year. Overall, 2024 was marked by growth in domestic and inbound tourism, while outbound travel showed a significant decline. Experts and market players shared more details about this with Realnoe Vremya.
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.