OREANDA-NEWS  Hotel revenues in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 32% due to an increase in domestic tourism. Kommersant writes about this, referring to the processed data of Rosstat.

The income of collective placement funds in January—March reached 136.92 billion rubles, an increase of 32% year-on-year. Such dynamics became possible with an increase in the utilization of facilities by 18.5% year-on-year. This figure also turned out to be 17.7% higher compared to the first quarter of 2019, which is happening for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the publication noted.

Market participants considered that the number of bookings and expenses of tourists for accommodation increased markedly in the first quarter. At the same time, the best indicators turned out to be in the Moscow market, where the income of hoteliers increased by 40%, to 22.5 billion rubles. The second place belongs to St. Petersburg, where the income growth of collective accommodation facilities amounted to 24% year-on-year, up to 7.8 billion rubles. The Krasnodar Territory closes the top three with an increase of 24%.

Analysts believe that the growth of the hotel market may continue until the end of the year. However, a serious increase in indicators will be for Sochi, Karelia, Baikal and Altai, while in other regions the dynamics will not be as high. At the same time, the hotel business will be affected by factors such as a sharp decline in the tourist flow of foreign tourists and the withdrawal of international operators from the market.

On April 7, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation published a draft federal law on the exemption of tourist operators for domestic and inbound tourism from value added tax (VAT).