Tour de Rus: regions will receive 27 billion for festivals and development of national routes

For the first time in Russia, long-term financial support has been distributed to the regions for the development of special tourism infrastructure, the Ministry of Economic Development told Izvestia. This is a record 27 billion rubles for three years under the national project "Tourism and Hospitality". Previously, such a support measure was allocated only for a year. The regions will receive money through a competition and for priority projects for them: the construction of infrastructure for automobile routes, the development of beaches, the creation of parking lots, the organization of festivals, and the improvement of city centers. What exactly is being developed in different parts of the country and what has been done over the past year is in the Izvestia material.

Three-year regional support

A single three-year subsidy for the development of tourism infrastructure was distributed in Russia for the first time. The government has determined the amount of support for each region based on the results of the competitive selection for 2025-2027 within the framework of the national project "Tourism and Hospitality".

— President Vladimir Putin has set a goal to increase the contribution of the tourism industry to GDP to 5% by 2030 and increase the number of trips across the country to 140 million people, said Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. — A single subsidy will be sent to the regions for priority areas for a particular territory. These funds, amounting to 27 billion rubles, will be used to develop infrastructure for autotourism, develop national tourist routes and beautify city centers.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that such a volume of support would create additional opportunities for the growth of the tourist flow and the development of the economy of the constituent entities of Russia.

For the first time, such a subsidy was allocated in 2024, it amounted to more than 6 billion rubles per year.

— Starting in 2025, we have increased the annual volume of a single subsidy by almost one and a half times, which will allow the regions to implement larger—scale projects and increase the number of tourist trips, this is the main indicator we are focusing on, said Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development.

He said that the leaders in terms of support this year were the Krasnodar Territory, the Moscow, Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, as well as the Stavropol Territory.

The agency has not yet announced how much each region will receive for three years. However, according to the Ministry of Economic Development, a total of 84 regions will receive the subsidy. These include the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics — they received additional points during the selection process.

The governor of the Krasnodar Territory, Veniamin Kondratiev, told Izvestia that in 2025 the amount of the subsidy for the region will amount to 451 million rubles.

The regions can use the subsidy at their discretion, including for the creation of camp sites, the development of national tourist routes, the implementation of projects for the improvement of city centers — the restoration and illumination of historical buildings, the creation of a unified style of signage, navigation signs and even benches, the appearance of small architectural forms — urban sculptures. Funds can also be spent on the purchase of tourist equipment and equipment, the creation of non-capital berthing facilities and festivals.

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The subsidy, which was distributed in 2024, proved to be "a fairly effective tool" on already operating national tourist routes, says Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR). In total, 56 routes in Russia have been given the status of "national".

— The increase in subsidies meets the request of many regions. For example, the North-West, which actively interact with each other and, thanks to such financing, plan to develop interregional routes, including within the framework of the Silver Necklace project," she said.

The Silver Necklace is a project consisting of a complex of routes connecting historical points of the north-west of Russia in 11 regions — St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Pskov and Novgorod regions, as well as Karelia, Komi and NAO.

Ambartsum Galustov, Acting Rector of the Russian State University of Tourism and Service, said that the subsidy competition helps to support not only the leading regions in the development of the industry in the Central Federal District, Southern Federal District and North Caucasus Federal District, but also throughout Russia.

— And the updated tourist infrastructure requires a new quality of personnel, an increase in their number for new facilities, he said. — The issue of professional competencies of employees of the tourism industry will be included in the agenda of the National Expert Council for Training Personnel for the Tourism and Hospitality Industry under the Ministry of Economic Development, which will begin work in March 2025.

The ministry did not specify which five regions did not receive state support. A source close to the competition said that they did not meet the criteria of budgetary security. "Simply put, they have the money," he explained.

What was the last subsidy spent on

In 2024, the single subsidy was aimed, in particular, at support for 38 projects in the Krasnodar Territory. Among them is the Black Sea Wine Week enogastronomical festival, which took place last fall in Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Anapa and three districts of the region. The Anapa sanatorium used these funds to provide an accessible environment, and year-round heated pools were created in Armavir, Anapa, Sochi and three districts, the Ministry of Economic Development recalled.

The press service of the regional administration told Izvestia that the amount of this subsidy in 2024 for the region amounted to 275 million rubles. They added that the region also purchased equipment for beaches, including for children's health complexes Aurora, Pearl of Russia and Burevestnik. In addition, funds were received by a private company from Novorossiysk for the construction of a tour route in the family park of landscape art therapy Park Home.

In 2024, two projects were implemented in the Kaluga Region to create a non-capital berthing infrastructure on the Oka River. "This has contributed to the development of shipping, including the launch of recreational sightseeing routes. A project has also been implemented in the region to create a tourist code for the city of Tarusa," the Ministry of Economic Development said.

And in Kirov, which in 2024 received the status of the New Year's capital of Russia, event events were held with subsidies, which attracted about 1 million tourists. Russian Russian North Gate urban route was created there, navigation was updated, an art object "Gates of the Russian North" was installed and the 650th anniversary of Kirov was celebrated.

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The Vologda Region administration told Izvestia that last year they received 68.3 million rubles for the implementation of 15 projects to create camping facilities and parking lots.

The Governor of the Vladimir Region, Alexander Avdeev, told Izvestia that last year, the Winter Lights Festival and the Family Street Art Festival were held in Murom. Children. Happiness."

— In addition, 18 projects were supported, for which tourist equipment was purchased, rental points and tourist information centers were equipped, he said. — And in jubilee Suzdal, a rope town, river and camp sites have been created on the territory of the main tourist complex.

In 2025-2027, state support funds are planned to be directed, in particular, to the creation of non-capital berths on the Oka, said Alexander Avdeev.

The Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, Evgeny Kuyvashev, told Izvestia that camping sites appeared in the Sverdlovsk Region last year as part of a single subsidy, and more than 20 projects were implemented to improve beach infrastructure and create year-round pools.

— Special attention is paid to the successful development of the tourist centers of Kamensk-Uralsky and Irbit. For residents of Irb, the development of the city is especially important, as the city is preparing for a big celebration of the 400th anniversary in 2031," he said.

In addition, he noted, last year the popular Ural Music Night music festival received financial support, which was attended by more than 380 thousand people in 2024.

In 2025, the funds of a single subsidy should be directed to the development of tourist centers in the cities of the Sverdlovsk region, support for event events and grant support for entrepreneurial initiatives, including the development of automobile tourism, said Evgeny Kuyvashev.

Earlier, Dmitry Ionin, Deputy Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, confirmed that the region would receive one of the largest three—year subsidies, amounting to about 1 billion rubles.