Senators will draft a law on the right of Russian regions to charge a resort fee

The Federation Council will prepare a bill on the right of all regions to introduce a resort fee, the funds from which can be used for the development of tourist infrastructure.

This instruction was given to the senators by the speaker of the upper house of Parliament, Valentina Matvienko. Currently, six regions have the right to charge a resort fee as part of the experiment.

"We are not imposing on anyone, but every subject of the Federation should be given such an opportunity and such a right," Matvienko said at a plenary meeting of the Federation Council on Wednesday.

The Speaker of the Chamber instructed her deputy Nikolai Zhuravlev and the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets, headed by Anatoly Artamonov, to "prepare a bill and ensure its adoption by the end of this year, when the experiment ends".

In addition, the senators intend to send relevant proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers.

"The government must decide and make a decision. And, in my opinion, there should be one solution - to adopt a law and give the right to all subjects of the Federation," Matvienko believes. 

At the same time, she stressed that each governor should take a reasonable and balanced approach to determining the size of the resort fee rate. The Speaker of the Federation Council drew attention to the fact that its collection is a global practice.

Senator Anatoly Artamonov, in turn, expressed readiness to develop a bill to give regions the right to establish a resort, or tourist, fee on their territories themselves. He told the meeting of the Federation Council that the term of the experiment on the collection of such a fee will end on December 31, 2024.

"Practice has shown that the introduction of the resort fee is supported by the population, there are good results of its application - landscaping facilities are being created that increase the comfort of stay for both vacationers and all citizens," Artamonov noted.

Many regions would like to join this experiment, he added.

As the senators noted, the funds from the collection will be used for the development of tourist infrastructure and the preservation of architectural monuments.

The experiment has been in effect since 2018. 

The resort fee can currently be charged in St. Petersburg, Crimea, Altai, Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, as well as in the federal territory of Sirius, which is located on the Black Sea coast of Sochi. The fee is paid by adult tourists staying in hotels for more than a day. The amount of the fee is set by the participating regions themselves, but it cannot exceed 100 rubles per day. For example, in Sochi it is 50 rubles, and in other municipalities of the Krasnodar Territory it is 30 rubles per day. In Crimea, the collection has been canceled since March 11, 2022.