Russian Federation Government Resolution dated February 27, 2016 No. 148 approved the changes in the state program "Development of the North Caucasus Federal District" for the period up to 2025. In particular, changes in the subprogram "Development of the tourism cluster in the North Caucasus Federal District, Krasnodar Territory and Republic of Adygea".
"This plan aimed at improving the economic situation in the North Caucasus,” said the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting of the Government Commission on the socio-economic development of the North Caucasus Federal District. “There is much more attention paid to attract extra-budgetary sources, to create more comfortable conditions for the implementation of promising business projects, especially in the sphere of tourism, recreation and health of agricultural production. I hope that it will provide a more ambitious approach to the District development problems and it will allow to use institutional and financial resources more effectively."
In turn, at a briefing after a Pravkomissiya meeting, the Russian Federation Minister of North Caucasus Affairs Lev Kuznetsov said that the tourism industry is one of the priorities for the Caucasus. "We have good growth points. Historically already established ones — the Caucasus Mineral Waters, mount Elbrus, where we are today implementing a major ski project, developing and supplementing what was created in the Soviet era. The new project "Arkhyz" in Karachay-Cherkessia, which has already attracted a lot of tourists, despite the fact that it is still under development.The new project "Arkhyz" in Karachay-Cherkessia, which has already today formed its tourist, despite the fact that he is still being under construction. And, at the first stage, one more local project which is also very important for the social development is the one of "Veduchi" in the Chechen Republic," said the head of Russian Ministry of Caucasus Affairs. "That is why the theme of tourism, as I believe, is one of the key projects supporting the socio-economic development," he concluded.
Commenting on the new target indicators of the subprogram "Development of the tourism cluster in the North Caucasus Federal District, Krasnodar Territory and Republic of Adygea", the JSC NCR Director General Oleg Gorchev noted that the adjusted version of the document is directly linked to the company operating efficiency indicators approved by the Board of Directors. "Our experience in developing the project first stage sites - All-Russian Tourist Complexes "Arkhyz","Elbrus" and "Veduchi" as well as the territories’ dynamics of the tourism cluster development second stage, prove the reality and attainability of the goals set to the JSC NCR by the Government of the Russian Federation. In the coming years, we will continue to build up the ski infrastructure volumes in the North Caucasus, we will intensify the work on promoting the regional tourism product in the domestic and foreign markets and we will give priority to attract private investment in the project," said Oleg Gorchev.
In accordance with the updated version of the subprogram "Development of the tourism cluster in the North Caucasus Federal District, Krasnodar Territory and Republic of Adygea", the project managed by the Joint-Stock Company Northern Caucasus Resorts is being carried out in two stages: Stage 1 - for the years 2013-2020, stage 2 - for the years 2021-2025.
The total amount of federal budget allocations for 2016-2025 for the subprogram target is 45.04 billion rubles. Herewith, every year the part of extra-budgetary funding sources will be increasing from 700 million rubles in 2015 to 15 billion rubles in 2020 and 53.86 billion rubles in 2025 accrued.
It is expected that as a result of the subprogram implementing, the length of the ski slopes put into operation will be 87.8 km in 2020 already, and more than 119 km in 2025. In 2020, the tourist resorts in the cluster will be visited by 480 thousand tourists a year, and in 2025 the annual tourist flow will be more than 807 thousand people. The cumulative by 2025, the SEZ residents as part of a tourist cluster will create more than 5800 jobs.