Representatives of the tourism industry again turned to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a request to review the draft law developed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) on the introduction of state regulation of prices for hotel services. On January 20, a letter signed by about 30 representatives of the largest hospitality industry associations was sent to Mr. Mishustin. Among the signatories are representatives of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, the Russian Hotel Association, the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, as well as international hotel companies.
“The FAS response received in response to our letter, in our opinion, further worsened the situation with the justifications for legislative initiatives and procedures being prepared on behalf of the Russian government. We cannot agree with any of them and are still convinced that the draft federal law contradicts the current legislation, creates new significant risks both for the functioning of existing hotel enterprises and for the development of the industry, worsens the investment climate and prospects for the implementation of the national project “Tourism and hospitality industry,” said industry representatives (quoted from Prime).
The authors of the letter recalled that the Ministry of Economy in its “Conclusion on the assessment of the regulatory impact …” of the submitted bill emphasized that “representatives of the tourism industry noted the proposed regulation as contrary to the market nature of the hospitality industry and generally accepted practices in the world of its development.”
“We would like to emphasize once again that the legislative initiative proposed by the FAS is contrary to the market one. We would like to once again draw your attention to the arguments and reasons for disagreeing with the proposals and arguments of the FAS …. We hope that our comments will be useful and will be taken into account in the future when discussing the submitted bill, including its expediency,” said representatives of the tourism industry.
In September 2021, the FAS prepared a draft on amending the law on the basics of tourism activities. The purpose of the document is to limit the increase in prices for hotel services during especially significant international events. Afterwards, representatives of the Russian tourist industry asked the Prime Minister to abandon this idea of the FAS. The authors of the letter then stated that the FAS initiative “contradicts the market nature of the hospitality industry and generally accepted practices in the world for its development.” They noted that it is not timely to introduce price regulation in a pandemic, when the tourism sector has already suffered.
The restrictions proposed by the FAS on the cost of hotel services during particularly significant international events, including the SPIEF, the Eastern Economic Forum and the investment forum in Sochi, are excessive and unreasonable, the Ministry of Economy said in November. The ministry believes that price regulation is a limiting factor for business.
Read more in the publication “Kommersant FM” “Forums hit the budget.”