Resort fees may be imposed on North Caucasus

The Ministry of the North Caucasus is preparing a draft law on the introduction of resort fees for the use of mineral waters and healing springs in some towns of Stavropol Territory, the Izvestia newspaper reports.

The press service of the department explained that these fees will be a form of "compensation for the economic damage caused by the use of infrastructure, located in the resorts."

In addition, the press service specified that the fees "will vary depending on the resort or the category of citizens, who have the right to receive benefits." For example, it will be required to pay up to 100 rubles per day for the use of "natural medicinal resources" of Mineralnyie Vody, Yessentuki, Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk.

It is expected that the received funds will be directed to the improvement of the resorts in this subject.

The head of the Faculty of Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and Tourism of RANEPA, Irina Goncharova, said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza that a resort fees is absolutely normal practice abroad.

"It is standard practice in Europe. This was done in order to maintain a decent standard of infrastructure of the resort. If these fees appear in Russia, it will be a very competent course. On average, we have 12-14 days of rest in the summer. Accordingly, if these fees are 100 rubles per day, it will be about 20 euros for a whole vacation, which is comparable with European values. If these funds will actually be aimed at maintaining the resort, it is a very good thing," she said.

"Now it is imposed as an experiment in the Stavropol region. And if it will give a good result, it is possible that resort fees will be imposed on the other republics of the North Caucasus Federal District," the head of the Faculty of Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and Tourism of RANEPA summed up.

Professor of the Department of Business Process Management in Production and Service of RANEPA, Galina Dekhtyar, in her turn, said that resort fees existed in Soviet times, but were cancelled in the early 2000s. "An amount of 100 rubles per day for one person, in my opinion, is an absolutely unreasonable measure. It was assumed that it would be a differentiated collection. For many Russian citizens it will be a significant disadvantage when choosing a resort," she explained.

"As I understand it, those who have proposed this measure have seen the statistics. Therefore, they suggested that people who pay a certain sum of money will be able to pay another 700 rubles a week, and it will not be much for them. But for many people it is not," Galina Dekhtyar concluded.