Hotel occupancy in the south of Russia was one third higher compared to the north

Despite the fact that the resorts of the Northwestern Federal District received 1 million more tourists in 2024 than in the Southern Federal District, the latter managed to surpass St. Petersburg and neighboring regions in terms of hotel stock utilization. The Krasnodar region, led by Sochi, the Republic of Crimea and the Rostov region accommodated 35% more tourists in hotels than in the NWFD. At the same time, the share of booking service apartments in comparison with classic hotels in Russia continues to grow - for three years by eight percentage points. Such data were provided to Izvestia by experts of Mantera Group.

At the same time, despite the fact that the northern resort destination received more tourists than the south of Russia - 25 million people against 24 million - it is the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea and neighboring regions that accommodated 35% more tourists in hotels.

"This phenomenon can be explained by several factors. Firstly, St. Petersburg is characterized by a large share of business tourism, which often involves one-day business trips without the need to book a hotel. In Sochi, which accounts for a third of all tourist trips in the Southern Federal District, on the contrary, more often go to relax and restore health, so the average duration of stay at the resort is 4.5 days," - said the head of the department of real estate sales of the group of companies Mantera Olga Gerner.

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She also added that, secondly, the dynamically growing tourist flow in Sochi contributes to the high occupancy rate of hotels and apart-hotels. According to her, the average occupancy rate in the city is 75-80%, while in St. Petersburg this indicator is at the level of 48-50%.

Mantera Group experts noted another important trend in the development of hospitality industry in Russian resorts - the growing number of apart-hotels in the structure of supply and demand. According to the company's data, since 2022 the share of apartment bookings in Russia has grown from 25% to 38% of the total number of tourist requests. Russians are attracted to service apartments by the expanded area of units compared to standard hotel rooms, the presence of a kitchen and dining area, as well as a wide range of services depending on the object.

In addition, over the last three years the number of apart-hotels and apartment complexes in the city has tripled. The purchase of service apartments is becoming increasingly popular both in terms of personal use as a second home and real estate investment. These options can be combined by renting out the apartments through a management company while the owner is not living in them.

"The market is still experiencing a shortage of offers of service apartments, the volume of which is able to satisfy at the moment only 30-35% of demand for this format of real estate. Its demand will only grow in the long term, especially in the elite segment, where services play a huge role", - added Gerner.

The day before it was reported that a mandatory system of classification of absolutely all tourist accommodation facilities with assigning them stars will appear in Russia. The corresponding law in the third reading passed the State Duma. So far, according to the law, only hotels are obliged to have categories corresponding to this or that number of "stars".