Historic estates will be revived for the sake of tourists

The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia held the first meeting of the interdepartmental commission for the revival of historic estates.

“The main tasks of the commission’s work are to develop a system of state support measures for projects for the revival of historic estates, mechanisms for interaction with private investors in order to involve estates in tourism,” the agency said on its website.

In this work, the ministry will interact with the regions, public organizations and the Ministry of Culture of Russia, since many issues are related to the preservation of cultural heritage sites.

“When working with estates, it is necessary to combine the economic aspect while maintaining the socio-cultural significance. This imposes both certain restrictions and gives new opportunities. We see the most effective is an express analysis of the situation, the development of criteria for selecting projects, the formation of a register of historical estates indicating their potential. It is necessary to make a pilot project at a number of objects, taking into account possible state support, including in terms of removing restrictions on the registration of land and the objects themselves,” said Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov, whose words are quoted in the message.

It is planned that priority in the selection of pilot projects will be made on estates that are already of interest to tourists and are included in tourist routes or can become points of attraction in the regions.

According to Vadim Prasov, Vice-President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, in the future it is necessary to consider the formation of a network of such hotels based on historical buildings and estates, since this format is in demand not only in Russia, but also in the world.

“At this stage, it is very important to choose exactly those estate complexes, historical buildings that are most suitable for restoration into tourist circulation, where both hotel and restaurant complexes and tourist display facilities can be formed,” Prasov is quoted in the message of the Ministry of Economic Development.

The executive director of the Association of Historical Estates, Vissarion Alyabyev, said at the meeting that Russia has a number of successful examples of historical estates restored according to all scientific principles, which annually receive several thousand guests and hold interesting events for tourists.

“For example, the Maryino Estate near St. Petersburg is visited by 4-5 thousand people a year, despite the fact that the number of rooms there is still very small. There is the Voronino Estate in the Yaroslavl region, where a hotel for 50 people has been operating for about seven years, but the annual tourist turnover reaches several thousand a year. Another example is the Skornyakovo-Arkhangelskoye estate in the Lipetsk region, it is visited by 10-12 thousand tourists a year, and mainly due to the events that take place there, ” he said.