Vice-governor Alexander Ruppel: By 2032, the number of tourists visiting the Krasnodar region will increase by 6.6 million

The region's tourism potential was discussed as part of the business program of the first international aviation and tourism forum «AIRTRAVELSOCHI 2024: Discover the Southgateway to Russia.» 250 delegates from 20 countries took part in the event.

Alexander Ruppel spoke about the region's tourism potential, prospects for air transport development, interaction between foreign and Russian airlines, development of inbound tourism, year-round regional routes, and work performed on increasing rooms inventory. The tourism potential of Sochi and the readiness of the infrastructure for the growth of passenger traffic were also discussed at the forum.

«One of the most important national development goals is to increase air mobility for the population by at least 50 percent by 2030 compared to the 2023 figure. We are consistently working on the development of the resort industry. Currently, there are 11,000 accommodation facilities in the region with a total capacity of 635,000 places. They are in demand: during the peak season, the resorts of the Black Sea coast are 95 percent full, while those on the Sea of Azov are 89 percent full. Last year, the region welcomed a record 18.6 million guests, and this year, it has already received 17.5 million. If this trend continues, the region will attract 20 million tourists by the end of the year,» said Alexander Ruppel.

According to Vice-Governor the region, it is necessary to increase the number of rooms and at the same time expand the range of offers. Now there are 316 hotels of 4 and 5 stars in the region, but it is not enough.

«Thanks to unprecedented measures to support the industry at the regional level, the volume of investment in the resort sector has increased 30-fold in four years. 62 investment projects worth almost 700 billion roubles are being implemented. This will make it possible to increase the capacity by more than 46 thousand rooms and create 28.5 thousand new jobs by 2032,» added Alexander Ruppel.

Taking into account the prospects for increasing the number of rooms and the annual trends in tourist traffic, the number of holidaymakers in the region's resorts is expected to rise by another 6.6 million by 2032.