Tents with dry toilets and a state monopoly on vodka – the State Duma is thinking about how to develop domestic tourism
The introduction of a resort tax in Russia could destroy domestic tourism, designed for poor vacationers.
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This was announced today at parliamentary hearings on the experimental introduction of resort fees in the Republic of Crimea, Altai Territory, Krasnodar Territory and Stavropol Territory,” said representatives of all opposition factions of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Thus, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that there is no need to build expensive hotels in the Russian south, since wealthy Russians would still prefer the same hotels in Turkey.
“Because people don’t need such expensive domestic tourism. And you put up tents, dry closets, provide access to the sea, maybe create car camping sites, and people will go to the Russian south. Open the sea for our citizens, then domestic tourism will develop,” the official website of the LDPR quotes Zhirinovsky.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov believes that the resort fee, which during the hearings was decided to be reduced from 100 to 50 rubles, will not solve the problems of resort towns. Government subsidies are much more effective.
“These 30 and 50 rubles do not save anyone. They help mayors patch up the current holes a little. Let's ask our committees and support our main tourist Meccas and recreation areas from additional income. I assure you, this will be much more effective,” the party website quotes Zyuganov as saying.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed to receive additional income by introducing a progressive tax scale for the richest and a state monopoly on alcoholic beverages. “We will get crazy money and solve this problem,” he added.
Representative of A Just Russia, Alexander Remezkov, drew attention to the fact that the halving of the resort fee from 100 to 50 rubles was not the result of the hearings. This concession was planned in advance by the Russian government, which introduced the bill.
“Despite the fact that it is proposed to set the maximum collection rate at 100 rubles, for some reason the calculations were made based on a rate of 50 rubles, and only for three regions. According to these calculations, with a collection rate of 50 rubles, the total additional volume of revenues in the period from 2018 to 2022 in the Stavropol Territory will exceed 2,02 billion rubles, in the Krasnodar Territory - 8,3 billion rubles, in the Republic of Crimea - 16,4 billion rubles . This is exactly how much tourists who want to visit these regions will have to pay. The only question is, will they want to do this?” Remezkov said.
It is not surprising that, in anticipation of such large sums, all representatives of resort regions at the hearings warmly supported the introduction of a new fee.
On June 23, the State Duma approved in the first reading the bill “On conducting an experiment on the development of resort infrastructure in the Republic of Crimea, Altai Territory, Krasnodar Territory and Stavropol Territory,” introduced by the Russian government. The document provides for an experiment to be carried out in 2018–2022 on the introduction of fees for the use of resort infrastructure. Each of these regions will have the opportunity to create a fund for the development of resort infrastructure, the funds of which can only be used to finance the design, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, improvement and repair of relevant facilities.
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