The President of Russia: Vladimir Putin held a State Council Presidium meeting in Yalta on developing Russia’s tourism sector

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin held a State Council Presidium meeting in Yalta on developing Russia’s tourism sector.

He said: “We know that the tourism sector is developing rapidly around the world and accounts for a growing share in national economies. It is no surprise then that competition for tourists is fierce. We need to attract visitors from abroad, and at the same time give incentives for our citizens to want to spend their holidays here at home, in our own country.

Speaking frankly, we lagged behind seriously for a long time in this competition… Things are changing now, slowly, but there is improvement.

Many regions have become serious about developing the tourism sector and are actively building or modernising tourism facilities and accompanying infrastructure. It’s enough to look at Sochi, which, without any exaggeration, has become a world-class year-round resort city.

The example of many cities and regions shows that you can develop the tourism sector with good result only by taking a comprehensive and systemic approach that takes all aspects into account.

Continued development of modern tourism infrastructure is one of our priorities now. Here, we need to make use of the opportunities offered by the federal targeted programme Development of Domestic and Inbound Tourism in Russia (2011–2018).

Of course, we must promote more actively the opportunities for holidays and travel in Russia. We need to do this here at home, and abroad, using the media and new information technologies to keep promoting our tourism products, open new tourism offices abroad, and tourism and information centres here in Russia. People here and abroad must be able to obtain full and timely information on Russia’s tourism potential.

I am sure that with a competent, involved and modern approach we have all the opportunities we need to make the tourism industry a competitive and effective sector of Russia’s economy. Our task now is to put these opportunities to the best use possible”.