Resort tax in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Most Russians prefer to go to resorts during their holidays. And to this day resorts of the south of Russia are popular. The introduction of a resort tax is a hot topic today. We talked about her not too long ago. The instruction to introduce this type of tax was given by the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin. Fees will be introduced only for those tourists who prefer to stay in licensed hotels, boarding houses, sanatoriums and other official places of accommodation. When and for which subjects of the federation will the tax be introduced? What do experts and Russian tourists think about it.

Resort fee: what is the tax?

Russian legislation does not contain a definition of this concept. In the Tax Code there is only a definition of the general concept of "collection". However, if you turn to publicly available sources of information, you can find the definition of this term: "a type of fee that is levied by the state on the territory of a certain resort area." This type of tax was previously established by the legislation of the RSFSR in 1991, but was abolished in 2004. Againstarted talking about introducing a resort tax only in 2016.

Who should pay?

Resort tax in Russia, according to the already approved bill, will be paid exclusively by individuals. At the same time, both citizens of the Russian Federation and tourists from abroad must pay for it. Individuals who conduct individual entrepreneurial activities in the resort area are exempt from tax. Thus, the introduction of the resort fee will affect only sanatoriums, hotels, hotels. Initially, it is planned that it will be included directly in the price of the tour package, and it will be possible to pay for it at the entrance or exit from the accommodation.

In what Russian regions will the tax be introduced?

The project will not be implemented immediately. It is planned that the resort tax will be introduced in the Crimea, Stavropol, Altai and Krasnodar Territories. Within 5 years, fees will be charged only in these subjects of the Russian Federation. But if the authorities recognize the experiment as successful, the tax will most likely be introduced in other resort regions.

When will they introduce?

Russian authorities have not yet announced the exact date of the introduction of the resort tax. But if you turn to the website of the Association of Tour Operators, it contains information that fees will be introduced in 2017, but not earlier. The introduction of a new pilot project in one of the above-mentioned regions of Russia is not excluded.

Fees

What will be the resort tax in Russia? How much will tourists pay? The answer to this question wasFinance Minister of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov. According to him, the introduction of this tax is quite reasonable. Previously, there was information that tourists would be charged a fee of 300 rubles, but the authorities considered this figure too high. Therefore, it is planned that the fee will be about 100 rubles. It is planned that the funds will be used for the development of resorts. Moreover, the idea was supported by the Federation Council after repeated discussions. Most likely, the size of the resort fee will be set in each region individually. But the introduction of fees must be preceded by the adoption of the relevant federal law, which has not yet been published.

Where will the funds raised go

The President of Russia fully supports the idea of introducing this tax. Putin also notes that the resort tax is available in most countries of the world. The collected funds will be directed to the development of tourism infrastructure and sanatorium-resort areas. In addition, the idea was proposed to create a single fund, from where the money will be directed to specific purposes for the development of resorts.

Are there any benefits?

Does the resort tax include benefits? Of course! This issue has been repeatedly discussed at government meetings. However, there is no exact information yet about which categories of tourists will be exempted from fees. Presumably exempt from resort tax will be:

• minors;
• persons with disabilities and their companions;
• persons who move for permanent residence orfor the purpose of studying, working in a resort area;
• pensioners;
• minors visiting relatives of retirement age.

Expert Opinion

Despite the fact that the resort tax is introduced to develop tourism in specific regions, experts make unfavorable forecasts. The additional fee will inevitably increase the cost of holidays in Russia. Given the fact that vacations in Crimea have already ceased to be cheap in recent years, tourists are likely to rent private accommodation instead of hotels. Thus, the private sector will remain shadowy, and the authorities will not be able to control the real tourist flow.

Approximately half of the tourists in Crimea in 2016 lived in the private sector due to overpricing in the summer. The authorities of the Republic of Crimea note that this trend will begin to gradually strengthen every year next year. And the reason for this will be the low cost of renting private housing, compared to hotels. Permeability in licensed sanatoriums and hotels may reach a critical point.

The European experience of introducing a tax of 0.5 to 2 euros per person per day in Mallorca is very indicative, when tour operators demanded that local authorities cancel this fee. The island's income from tourism was significantly lower than the income from the tax. The authorities had to cancel the tax.

Also, experts note that due to the depreciation of the ruble and economic sanctions, Russians began to spend less money on vacation. Therefore, the pricing policy should be flexible enough. Only in this case, the introduction of the resort tax will not affect the reduction of the tourist flow.

The estimated fee will be from 50 to 100 rubles. If it is larger, tour operators will lose most of their customers, because in recent years the Crimea and Altai have become organized holiday destinations. The introduction of this tax is premature and will not help popularize domestic tourism due to higher prices for air tickets and hotel accommodation.

The main resorts of Russia have a very poor tourist infrastructure. People, for sure, will not believe that the funds will really go to the improvement.

Resort tax: reviews of Russians

What do Russian tourists think about the new tax? Most Russians oppose the tax because they believe that the level of tourism infrastructure will remain the same, since most of the funds are likely to go to the maintenance of organizations that will manage the improvement. At the same time, holidays in Turkey or Egypt with a high level of service will cost in this case even cheaper than in Russia. Therefore, the introduction of the resort tax completely discourages Russians from wanting to relax at home.

Thus, the resort tax is a new type of fee that will be levied on tourists vacationing in some regions of Russia. Most experts consider its introduction inappropriate and untimely, because the cost of recreation will increase markedly. Howeverthe introduction of this type of tax is still a project, there is no official law yet.