You won't get far: tour operators didn't get benefits from the state
Large tour operators are unlikely to be able to claim benefits when working with neighboring friendly countries. According to the draft government decree (Izvestia has it), three states are planned to be included in the list of countries: Abkhazia, Belarus and South Ossetia. The law, which provides for a reduced guarantee amount for tour operators, stipulates that companies operating exclusively with countries from the list will be able to apply for this measure. Therefore, experts believe that small regional firms will take advantage of the benefit first of all. Companies operating in the field of domestic tourism will be able to expand their activities to neighboring countries. However, the industry hopes for a further expansion of the list.
What support measures will tour operators receive?
The list of neighboring friendly countries with favorable conditions for Russian tourists, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development, is planned to include only three countries: Abkhazia, Belarus and South Ossetia. The draft government decree approving this list is available to Izvestia. According to the editorial board, the document has been sent to the Cabinet of Ministers.
The list is necessary for the full-fledged operation of the law, which establishes a reduced amount of financial liability for tour operators working with neighboring and friendly states. At the end of July 2025, the relevant amendments were signed by the President of Russia, and the law will enter into force on September 1, 2025.
Companies working with countries from the list will be able to generate their financial support in the amount of 500 thousand rubles, which is a reduced rate. Tour operators specializing in domestic and inbound tourism now have the same problem.
The same companies that work in outbound tourism must now form contributions to the mandatory funds of personal responsibility of tour operators, based on the cost of vouchers sold over the previous year. Previously, their minimum amount could not be less than 50 million rubles, but at the beginning of 2024, there was a benefit for the minimum amount of financial security — 10 million rubles. Then this amount increased to 25 million rubles. For 2025, the guarantee should be 0.75% of the amount of last year's tours sold.
Thus, companies dealing with countries from the list of friendly and neighboring states will work under simplified conditions. As Dmitry Vakhrukov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, noted, "simplification of financial requirements will allow tour operators to actively develop new routes, offer more vacation options at affordable prices, and most importantly, provide additional protection for tourists."
But the law states that the new rules are intended for tour operators who specialize exclusively in trips to neighboring friendly states. If a company creates a travel product for visiting countries that are not included in the list of neighboring countries, "information about such a tour operator is subject to exclusion from the register."
Immediately after the amendments were approved in July 2025, Izvestia interviewed market participants, asking what the list should be. Sergey Romashkin, a member of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT) Committee on domestic tourism, General Director of the Dolphin tour operator, noted that Abkhazia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia are considered the most important for the tourism industry.
"We expect that an increase in the number of tour operators in these areas may increase competition and gradually lead to lower prices, and all friendly countries will receive additional tourist traffic this year," he said. — Probably, beach destinations, for example, Abkhazia, will benefit more.
The expert explained that the support measure is not additional "live" money for tour operators, but savings on insurance reserves that market participants must generate from their own money to operate.
Oksana Bulakh, a member of the PCT and commercial director of the Alean tour operator, expected Abkhazia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to be included in the list, and also allowed Mongolia, China and North Korea to appear on it.
Which companies will be able to qualify for the benefit
Market participants interviewed by Izvestia reacted cautiously to the news about the appearance of only three countries on the list.
"For sure, this measure will be useful to small local players, it will give support to companies in the border territories that create a tourist product aimed at their neighbors," said Artur Muradian, Vice President of the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), CEO of Space Travel. — Now it is difficult to find federal-level players who can engage in mono-product.
He also expressed hope for a significant increase in the number of countries on the list in the future.
Perhaps the innovation will be relevant for small and medium-sized companies that are engaged only in cross-border tourism, Sergey Romashkin agrees.
— The entrance ticket to the tourist market for such companies will sharply become cheaper, it is always good for the development of small and medium—sized businesses, - he said. — We do not expect new tour operators to appear exclusively in these countries. Rather, existing domestic tourism companies will be able to quickly enter the market from three countries.
Artur Muradyan noted that the major players will eventually focus on their existing areas and are unlikely to aim at creating separate legal entities that would work with the countries on the list.
— But small, medium and microbusiness will be able to meet the requirements, — said the expert.
There are about 4,500 domestic tourism operators in Russia, Sergey Romashkin recalled.
"And we can expect their business to intensify in these three countries," he said. — And large operators working with dozens of countries will simply continue their work. But they will have the opportunity to reduce their contributions to personal responsibility funds by eliminating sales in friendly countries.
However, in his opinion, it is necessary to work out a new mechanism in a small number of countries and expand it annually.
Aleksan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies Association, CEO of the Pink Elephant network, recalled that during the initial discussions of the changes, a list of friendly countries was discussed, without restrictions that they should be neighboring.
"The industry expected more from these changes," he said. — I would even say that those who work in tourism are disappointed. In our tourist environment, we called the situation "the mountain gave birth to a mouse." And, of course, in this law it was necessary to write about friendly countries, Russia has more than 100 of them — Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela, and North Korea, which is also a neighboring country. And Russia has more neighboring friendly countries than in the list.
Aleksan Mkrtchyan named tour operators working with Belarus as the main beneficiaries of the new benefits. He also recalled that Abkhazia is rapidly gaining popularity.
— But she benefits from low prices for food, accommodation and excursions. In addition, the country exists in the ruble zone, which is convenient. People like it, people go there. Compared to last year, the tourist flow to Abkhazia increased by 20%, to Belarus — by 12%.
But with South Ossetia, according to him, there is still a tense situation in the tourism sector — there is an acute shortage of comfortable hotels and hotels for tourists.
— Unfortunately, this country is not about tourism yet. In order for tourists to go there, there must be more than fifty such accommodation facilities," he said. — And the hotels that meet all the requirements can still be counted on the fingers of two hands. There are also problems with transport logistics.
The expert admitted that the number of small tour operators operating in Abkhazia and Belarus may increase due to the new benefits, but this will be an increase of several dozen, not hundreds.
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