In September 2025, the Russian Regional Forum Development of Tourism Infrastructure will mark its fifth anniversary. As tradition dictates, it’s time for a recap. Why did the need for such an event appear exactly five years ago?

The launch of the Regional Forum in 2021 coincided with the initiation of the Tourism and Hospitality National Project. The Forum’s primary goal remains facilitating qualitative and quantitative growth in accommodation facilities and tourism infrastructure as a whole. While heavily focusing on effective investment strategies in tourism and hospitality, the Forum aims to equip investors, developers, and project initiators with comprehensive information about the investment climate in the hospitality sector. This includes analytics, insights into key development trends, practical knowledge, and timely ideas, as well as the opportunity to establish reliable business contacts with governmental bodies and key market players.

Over the past five years, we have assisted non-specialized investors and developers in navigating the market, selecting attractive and promising investment focuses, and finding co-investors and partners to implement their ideas or projects. During this time, nearly 4,000 entrepreneurs from 60 regions of Russia have attended our forums, more than 300 investment projects have been presented at pitch sessions, and over 130 business sessions have been conducted. Since 2022, we have been compiling annual Final Resolutions that summarize the findings of business sessions. These resolutions contain recommendations that aim to enhance the effectiveness of state measures to stimulate domestic tourism and develop tourism infrastructure in the Russian regions. Copies of these resolutions have been sent to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the relevant committees of the Federation Council and the State Duma. While I harbour no illusions, I hope that our modest contribution finds its way into the decisions that are ultimately implemented.

Obviously, for the development of the domestic tourism industry, strong government resolve and budgetary investments are essential. However, what role does private capital play today, especially smaller-scale investors? After all, private initiatives are largely responsible for creating the atmosphere, mood, and momentum at the local level. For instance, is it currently in vogue to invest in Russian wineries? Is it fashionable to open hotels, guesthouses, and other tourist attractions and launch new projects?

You are absolutely right. Without government support, budget allocations for infrastructure (roads, utilities, water supply), and financial incentives, ambitious plans for developing the hotel sector cannot be realized. However, private investors, particularly diverse ones, are the ones who are driving the industry.

These include major businesspersons who wish to leave a lasting legacy. Some of them restore historic estates, occasionally even entire villages, breathing new life into cultural heritage sites and transforming them into exceptional historical hotels and cultural clusters. Others revitalize Soviet sanatoriums, converting them into modern spa resorts, while some refurbish children’s camps, creating thematic vacation spots for kids.

Yet, the hotel market is highly versatile, and hoteliers can range from large private investors to small and medium-sized ones, for whom such investments may become a source of stable passive income. Individual accounts currently hold over RUB 60 trillion, and many view the hotel market as a promising investment avenue and an alternative to residential real estate. They purchase individual units/apartments in apartment hotels or hybrid projects that combine the formats of classic hotels and apartment hotels, or various rural recreation facilities based on modular, prefabricated structures.

In 2024, one of your panel sessions was titled Investments in Tourism 2030: People, Projects, Results. Does this mean that people are the main problem for us and not money? Are we talking about people in the role of staff at tourist sites, investors, or visionaries who devise new projects? Do you understand how to solve this issue?

The title of the session indeed highlights the importance of human resources, as this topic is critical for the successful development of accommodation facilities in Russia. This issue has two dimensions.

First, there is a lack of specialized expertise among investors and developers. The hotel business is extremely complex and has pronounced peculiarities. Without practical experience, successfully implementing a project in this sector is impossible. As such, every investor/developer must acknowledge that hotel experts should be involved in the project at its earliest stages. Ideally, for major projects, representatives of the management companies responsible for delivering the desired metrics should join the team.

Second, there is a shortage of skilled professionals across all levels, from senior executives to frontline staff. Questions arise concerning who will manage the facility, where to recruit personnel after opening, and how and where to train them. These considerations must be addressed during the planning stage.

Moreover, employee turnover in the industry exceeds average rates in other economic sectors. There’s also a discrepancy between education and practice, graduates from specialized programmes often lack essential practical skills.

While unsolvable problems do not exist, resolving these challenges will require coordinated efforts from businesses, educational institutions, and government bodies. Major chains (AZIMUT Hotels, COSMOS Hotel Group, Cronwell Hospitality Group, etc.) have already established corporate universities, but a systemic approach is needed to train and retain skilled professionals.

There’s a well-known joke about a Muscovite outside of Moscow who expects the same level of service beyond the capital as he gets in Moscow. But is it true that Moscow sets the trends in the hospitality industry? What can the capital learn from the regions?

It’s difficult to surprise Moscow with technological innovations or service levels, but the regions traditionally excel in authenticity, local flavour, and regional culture, which are reflected in architecture, design, cuisine, and even service, as many small hotel owners personally interact with guests. In addition, the regions offer stunning and diverse natural landscapes that are actively utilized by local hoteliers. Price accessibility, cost-performance ratio, and the uniqueness of services often tilt in favour of the regions rather than the capital.

What’s your recent tourist shock experience that you had in Russia?

“Tourist shock” might be too strong a term, but among the places that impressed and lingered in my memory, I would note the tourist attraction Marvelous Village Mandrogi in the Leningrad Region and the Peski Park-Hotel on the shore of Lake Chudskoye, with its amazing nature, solitude, comfort, and a restaurant that offers distinctive cuisine with imaginative presentations. In terms of Moscow projects, I was particularly impressed by the Okno Boutique Apart-Hotel, with its unique room and communal space design that blends contemporary authoritative approaches with traditional Russian style.