The advantages and disadvantages of the tourism industry for a potential investor were discussed at the Travel! Forum

The advantages and disadvantages of the tourism industry for a potential investor were discussed at a strategic session within the "Investments" block at the Russian Tourism Forum "Travel!". Investments are one of the key topics of this year's forum.

At the beginning of the session, moderator Elena Lysenkova, Founder, Hospitality Income Consulting, presented up-to-date information that demonstrates the growth of investors in the construction of hotels - the number of rooms from 608 thousand classified accommodation rooms in 2019 grew to more than 818 thousand as of June 1, 2023. According to Elena Lysenkova, the volume of investment in tourism made a breakthrough in 2021-2022, and taking into account the cycle, the results of this volume will be visible in 2024-2025, when new facilities open.

Demand patterns are changing, new consumer expectations are being formed, and technology is advancing rapidly. During the session, they discussed the potential of the tourism industry for an investor and directions that can contribute to the further transformation of the industry.

Vladimir Poddubko, General Manager, Manzherok resort, presented a project for the construction of a network of glamming parks in partnership with the Expedition club. The task is to open 100 glampings, each containing 30 cabins. The advantages are obvious: the internal tourist flow has significantly increased, state support measures, including for non-capital construction projects - they allow you to receive investments from the Ministry of Economic Development, the interest of the region.

As part of the project, a search for promising locations is underway. Each park will also include a restaurant and a bath complex, which will be a scaling up of the already successful projects of the Expedition company.

Maria Trofimova, Director of the Department of Consumer Market and Tourism of the Tyumen Region, commented on the investment potential of the regions:

“There are many regions, all have incredible potential, recreational, cultural, educational, and everyone is actively talking about investment potential. We need to think about how to position ourselves in front of investors.

We show the situation on the market and what is being formed in the nearest circle - the south of the Tyumen region - this is a kind of crossroads, around which there are 4 federal roads and 15 million total transit traffic. There is potential for the development of tourism infrastructure.

Until 2017, the region was not on the country's tourist map, we were associated with industry. Tourism was a startup. And we have created a successful history, in 4 years, having doubled the flow. Next year we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the thermal direction.”

Svetlana Vereshchagina, Deputy Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism of the Republic of Bashkortostan, spoke about investment activity

“There are a number of large projects, initiatives for sanatoriums, ski resorts, but the main investment activity is in small formats: like glampings, where the investment volume is from 6 million rubles.

For investors, the attractiveness and picturesqueness of the site, the availability of infrastructure, and most importantly, the availability of land are important. We are participating in the Land for Tourism pilot, 5 plots have already been submitted, but there is a land bank at the regional level. And the municipalities are preparing the land - this is an important job, and the regions need to pay attention to this. If municipalities lack competencies, involve experts and industry associations.

We give the opportunity to provide plots without bidding. We have a loyal criterion - a volume of 10 million and the creation of at least 7 modules. We invested, popularized the brand, created the infrastructure, and in 1-1.5 years investors are ready to enter the territory.”