Russia's Kaliningrad region plans to introduce tourist tax in 2024

KALININGRAD. Aug 14 (Interfax) - Russia's Kaliningrad region will introduce tourist tax in 2024, Andrei Yermak, the region's culture and tourism minister, said during a teleconference of the region's administration center on Monday.

"I discussed tourist tax with Governor Anton Alikhanov today. The president has ordered drawing up a legislative basis to delegate the right to introduce tourist tax to regional authorities. We're waiting for the federal government's decision. But as soon as this opportunity is available, we plan to introduce this tax," Yermak said.

"The basic tax figure is 100 rubles per person, starting the second day. At the same time, multiple categories [of visitors] will be exempted from it. For instance, these will be children, sports teams, and representatives of cultural projects," he said.

At the end of 2021, the Kaliningrad region mulled the introduction of tourist tax starting January 2022. The date of introducing tourist tax was later postponed to January 2023. However, the region was ultimately not included in the list of areas where tourist tax was endorsed by the federal government.

Following a conference on the development of tourism in Derbent on June 29, President Vladimir Putin issued a number of directives to the government, including that on preparing amendments to some legal provisions to empower regional administrations to introduce local tourist taxes.

Such amendments should be made "based on the record of [...] an experiment for the development of resort infrastructure" in Crimea, in the Altai, Krasnodar, and Stavropol territories, in St. Petersburg, and in the Sirius federal territory, a document published on the Kremlin's official website says.

Russia has implemented legislation on the experimental introduction of tourist tax in Crimea and in the Altai, Stavropol, and Krasnodar territories since 2017. In November 2022, the State Duma extended this legislation until December 31, 2024 and expanded the territory subject to the experiment for the development of resort infrastructure to St. Petersburg and the Sirius federal territory in the Krasnodar territory.