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- The burden of recreation: two thirds of state-owned projects of new hotels and resorts have been curtailed in Russia
The burden of recreation: two thirds of state-owned projects of new hotels and resorts have been curtailed in Russia
In Russia, 90 of the 131 projects of new hotels and resorts, the implementation of which is supervised by the state corporation "Tourism.The Russian Federation," follows from the audit of the Accounting Chamber. This is due to the fact that investors are running out of money, construction sites are becoming more expensive, and there is no suitable land for some facilities. As a result, the regions may be left without some of the expected jobs and taxes. The joint venture offers to take away from "Tourism.Russian Federation" 21 billion unused rubles and send them back to the budget. The auditors drew attention to the weak effectiveness of another tool for the development of this industry — the program of preferential loans for the construction of tourist facilities. Which projects were forced to stop — in the material of Izvestia.
How is the construction of hotels and resorts in Russia funded?
Government support for investment projects in tourism is not fully operational. One of the main tools in this area is preferential loans for the construction of hotels and other tourist facilities (the government compensates banks for the difference between the preferential and market rates). From 2021 to April 1, 2026, 61.4 billion rubles were allocated from the budget for this program, according to the report of the Accounting Chamber (available to Izvestia). However, the auditors believe that the Ministry of Economic Development has not sufficiently monitored how banks comply with the terms of the preferential program.
As a result, a significant part of the pre-approved financing did not reach the projects. For example, financial organizations planned to terminate 20 contracts (worth 78.6 billion rubles) for granting loans by May 1. At the expense of this money, about 5 thousand hotel rooms were to be created, or almost 7% of the planned commissioning. In fact, the banks managed to issue only 1.5 billion rubles for these projects.
The total volume of investments in this area for the specified period amounted to 1.9 trillion rubles. Of these, it was planned to attract 1.2 trillion rubles in loans. However, by April 1, financial institutions had actually disbursed only 280 billion rubles, or 24% of the amount under already concluded contracts.
The auditors made separate comments to the Tourism Corporation.Russian Federation", which is engaged in the development of tourist infrastructure. According to the joint venture's calculations, by the beginning of the second quarter of 2026, there were 131 investment projects in its portfolio. At the same time, 90 of them had been shut down by April 1 or were scheduled to close in 2026, the report says.
The publication has a list of all the projects that have been discontinued. Among them are the Zeleny Cape in the Irkutsk Region (the total cost is 10.24 billion rubles), Koprino Posad in the Yaroslavl Region (7.6 billion), Rechkunovsky resort and wellness complex in the Novosibirsk Region (5.7 billion), Kaliningrad (4.8 billion), Trinity in the Stavropol Territory. (3.35 billion).
The Accounting Chamber also stressed that the corporation "Tourism.The Russian Federation" violated the deadlines for the implementation of projects that are provided for by the developed master plans. In addition, she did not repay 1.3 billion rubles under six loan agreements and by April 1, 2026, she had paid only 34.3 million rubles.
As a result, the joint venture recommended that the government demand back to the federal budget almost 21 billion rubles, which the corporation did not use to support tourism projects.
In the press service of "Tourism.The Russian Federation" told Izvestia that they had received recommendations from the auditors, and the shareholders would decide on further steps. They added: the funds are in treasury accounts (actually in the budget). Projects for more than 11,000 rooms with private investments of 244 billion rubles are currently under construction. In total, there are more than 32 thousand rooms in the corporation's projects. By 2030, it must finance programs worth 24.4 billion, the press service added.
The Ministry of Energy told Izvestia that the corporation's work strategy has been changing since this year. Now the focus is not just on individual investment projects and construction sites in the regions, but on work across the country and across the entire spectrum of tasks in the field of tourism. Among them are the active attraction of Russian and foreign investments, the construction of infrastructure, including within the framework of the federal project "Five Seas and Lake Baikal", as well as special economic zones (SEZs) of a tourist type, the ministry said.
Why have government projects for new hotels and resorts been curtailed in Russia?
Kirill Agapov, CEO and managing partner of Umbrella Consulting Group, a group of companies in the field of commercial real estate, is convinced that the main reason for the curtailment of state—owned tourism projects is a sharp increase in the cost of loans. The main part of the portfolio is "Tourism.The Russian Federation" was formed in 2021-2023, when borrowed funds were much cheaper. At the start of the concessional lending program, the key rate was 4.25%, in October 2024 it rose to 21%, and now - in the fall of 2026 — it is at the level of 14%. This is still a high level for the hotel business, the expert added.
At the same time, the cost of construction itself has increased — materials, labor, and engineering systems, Kirill Agapov said. Therefore, projects that looked economically feasible a few years ago may no longer pay off after the costs are recalculated. There is also no suitable land for some of the facilities — some of them were built on sites that are not suitable for such buildings (for example, the land is intended only for private homes, not for hotels), said Valeria Popova, senior analyst at the Rikom-Trust investment company.
In addition, government support is gradually decreasing. At the end of 2025, the Ministry of Economic Development completed a program of preferential loans for the construction of hotels.
However, there is a way to increase the effectiveness of such travel industry support programs — this is possible through more thorough project preparation, says Konstantin Konov, founder of the commercial real estate company Youkon. Before making an investment decision, it is necessary to assess in advance the availability of land, engineering and transport infrastructure, financing structure, estimated workload and cost of living. According to the expert, for large complexes, it is also worth considering the issue of phased construction, so as not to invest all the capital at once.
What are the risks to the economy from the termination of tourism projects
Most of the projects that are being closed have not yet reached the construction stage. Therefore, the market is losing not even the rooms that were supposed to open in the near future, but the future increase in supply, primarily for 2028-2032, Kirill Agapov noted. The consequences of reducing the number of projects will appear after a while.
At the same time, the slowdown in the introduction of new facilities is already becoming noticeable. According to the concessional lending program, it is planned to introduce about 800 rooms by the end of 2026, the expert noted.
— The deficit is likely to be local. It can become more pronounced during peak seasons on the Black Sea coast, Altai, Baikal and Kamchatka, as well as in ski resorts, including Sheregesh, where there is already a shortage of rooms. The situation is different in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major cities.: There, the demand for accommodation is growing slower than supply or decreasing, so an acute shortage of hotels is not expected yet," Kirill Agapov said.
At the same time, according to the document of the Accounting Chamber, the largest number of new rooms is planned to be created in four—star hotels - 31.2 thousand units. Another 25.3 thousand rooms are in five—star hotels, and 8.4 thousand are in three-star hotels.
The reason for this imbalance lies in the economics of the projects: the cost of building rooms in hotels of different levels differs less than the income they bring, Kirill Agapov explained. Therefore, with high construction costs, it is more profitable to build a hotel where you can set a higher price for accommodation.
Due to the termination of projects, regions lose the opportunity to develop infrastructure, the expert noted. In addition, the potential number of jobs is decreasing. First, the subject of the Russian Federation receives less employment at the construction stage, then permanent vacancies in the hotel business. A large resort hotel can provide hundreds of jobs directly and create additional demand for restaurants, transportation, sightseeing companies and shops.
Closing projects also means losing future tax revenue. We are talking about property tax, personal income tax, travel tax, which goes to local budgets, as well as deductions from companies serving tourists. In the long run, this may cool the interest of other investors in the region.
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