Half a billion on top: how VIP glamping sites and health resorts outplayed the ‘newbies’ in the Ministry of Economic Development's competition
Tatarstan’s winners of the federal competition will receive 500 million rubles in gratuitous subsidies and open 510 new places by 2027

The Kazan Gorbunov Aircraft Plant — a branch of Tupolev — will receive 37.8 million rubles to update the corporate tourist infrastructure on the Blue Bay, Tatneft — 76.4 million to expand the glamping park near the Karabash Reservoir, and the recently built Pioneer Resort Hotel on the Volga coast near Shelanga — 56 million rubles. With these results, the Ministry of Economic Development's competition for the provision of gratuitous federal subsidies for the construction of glamping sites ended in June. For the first time, no newcomers made it to the finals: federal authorities gave priority to existing players in the tourism industry with an accumulated base.
510 new holiday destinations to appear in Tatarstan by 2027
29 Tatarstan tourism projects with a total value of over 1 billion rubles have won the competition of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation for the construction of modular non-capital structures (glamping sites) for 2025-2027. This was reported by the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan for Tourism, responsible for preparing the application documentation of the republic. Based on the results of the federal competitive selection, Tatarstan received a single subsidy for the creation of tourism infrastructure in the amount of 0.5 billion rubles.
Subsidies are provided free of charge within the framework of the national project Tourism and Hospitality, which is supervised by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko. A mandatory condition is co-financing of at least 50% of the costs by the project initiator. As a result, by 2027, an additional 510 new holiday destinations should appear in the republic. A total of 84 regions competed for the distribution of the 27 billion ruble fund.

The backbone of the winners was made up of investment projects of large companies and regional sanatoriums that are part of the Federation of Trade Unions of Tatarstan. At the same time, not a single “newcomer” from among entrepreneurs managed to break through to the final. According to businessmen, this year the competition committee radically changed priorities, giving preference not to new buildings in the forest, as before, but to tourist projects with ready-made engineering infrastructure. They were awarded incentive 3 points, while glamping sites without networks could not receive a single point at all. In addition, projects in specially protected natural areas and near the M-4 Don, M-8 Kholmogory, M-11 Neva, M-12 Vostok were given priority.
“The members of the commission were more loyal to this format, because the business brings in income and taxes. And the risks that the project will not work out are minimal for the sanatoriums. It is one thing to put 10 glamping sites in a beautiful natural area without access roads and with complex logistics. Another thing is an operating business, where the flow of vacationers, infrastructure, additional services are established. I think that for this reason, sanatoriums began to receive gratuitous subsidies,” explained the head of the association Health Resorts of Tatarstan Yevgeny Terentyev.
According to him, last year 184,000 people vacationed in the republic's sanatoriums. There is no data on how many guests visited the glamping sites
Live to 2028
The federal competitive selection was of decisive importance for investors in the tourism industry. The grants won are allocated for three years at once (previously they were held every year, — author's note). So we will have to count on the next wave after 2027.
According to the terms of the competition, Tatarstan will receive a single subsidy of half a billion rubles for the creation of tourism infrastructure for 2025-2027. “The regions can distribute the funds at their own discretion, including for the construction of infrastructure on automobile tourist routes, the creation of camp sites and the purchase of camping tents, the arrangement of beaches and national tourist routes, and the implementation of projects to develop tourist centres of cities. Among the possible areas are the purchase of tourist equipment and gear, the creation of non-capital berthing structures and the holding of festivals,” Dmitry Chernyshenko said earlier.

Tatarstan is among the leaders along with Krasnodar Krai, Moscow, Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions. “These funds — in the amount of 27 billion rubles — will be used to develop infrastructure for autotourism, the creation of tourist routes and the improvement of city centres. This will create additional opportunities for increasing tourist flow and economic growth in the regions,” the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation commented on the results of the competition.
Chuvashia sent 11 projects for the creation of glampings for the federal competitive selection, but only five facilities were able to receive subsidies. The total amount of subsidies will be 261.6 million rubles, and at least 50% will be invested by their initiators.
Tatarstan submitted 39 applications for subsidies totalling 1.3 billion rubles, the press service of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan for Tourism reported. “The subsidies are gratuitous, but require the fulfilment of a number of conditions by entrepreneurs.
When evaluating, applicants with experience in implementing similar projects, as well as projects with the availability of supporting and tourist infrastructure, had an advantage. “At the same time, among the projects that passed the competitive selection, there are both large and small projects," the department said.
Businesses were given a good opportunity to expand the number of rooms, and this certainly does not affect the growth in the cost of services, Vladimir Kudashov believes. “In the history of the development of the tourism industry, the state is helping businesses for the second time. Until now, a significant portion of the profits went to the acquisition and renewal of the material and technical base, and they could not take on new buildings. Now there is a chance to increase the number of rooms,” he concluded.
Подписывайтесь на телеграм-канал, группу «ВКонтакте» и страницу в «Одноклассниках» «Реального времени». Ежедневные видео на Rutube и «Дзене».