The resort fee is proposed to suspend
On April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that provides for the right of the subject of the Russian Federation, on the territory of which the resort fee is charged, to stop this process.
The explanatory note states: “In the conditions of an extremely difficult economic and epidemiological situation <...> a situation may arise when the subject of the Russian Federation, even in the absence of receipts of the resort fee, will be forced to bear the costs of its administration.”
Now the experiment on collecting the resort fee is taking place in the Altai, Stavropol, Krasnodar Territory. The authorities of the southern regions of the Russian Federation did not decide to suspend the collection.
Svetlana Balayeva, the minister of resorts, tourism and Olympic heritage of the Krasnodar region, says that the authorities of Kuban are considering the abolition of the resort fee for a certain time.
In their own way, they want to use a potential deferral with tax in the Altai Territory.
The authorities of the region decided to postpone the transfer of the resort fee to the regional budget until September 10 for hotels and sanatoriums, so that entrepreneurs used the money received in March to solve problems, primarily to pay wages.
Experts believe that the regions will not dare to completely abolish the collection of the resort fee. This is largely because they are budgeted payments.
For 2020, the budget of the Stavropol Territory provides for 278 million rubles of planned revenues from the resort fee, in the Altai Territory - 46 million rubles.
According to the general director of the tour operator Dolphin Sergey Romashkin, now is the right time to reconsider the attitude to the collection.
“In terms of promoting domestic tourism, this is a redundant mechanism. Canceling the resort fee would be a great PR move, an effective gesture of social justice, especially with an eye on the 2021 season.
The expert is sure that when deciding the future of this tax, it is necessary to take into account the economic efficiency of the instrument in different regions.
“If in the Altai and Stavropol territories, where tourists go for longer periods, at a rate of collection of 50 rubles per day it is economically justified, in the Krasnodar region with an amount of 10 rubles per person per day, the effectiveness of the collection is doubtful.”
According to observers, the abolition or retention of the resort fee will not have a practical impact on demand.
This year, coming to the Krasnodar Territory, tourists will be concerned not with saving 10 rubles a day, but with finding a safe place to relax. This is the guarantee of the epidemiological safety of the resort, hotel or sanatorium will be the main argument for the tourist, Romashkin said.
Source: atorus