Cruise ships’ calls to Russian ports should be simplified, Yury Trutnev says (photo)

Legislative framework aimed at decreasing administrative barriers in the field of cruise tourism will be elaborated by RF Government within a month. The instructions were given by Yury Trutnev, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District following the meeting on Kamchatka tourism development, says press center of Kamchatka Government.

“We spoke most of all about the cruise shipping: about the necessity to simplify the procedure of cruise ships’ calls; the need to ensure approval of cruise routes for a long period of time; arranging of ‘one-stop’ cooperation of all authorities so that tourist companies didn’t have to run from pillar to post in order to obtain a permit, Yury Trutnev comments. – The State Duma has drafted a Bill. So far, state regulation is based on the Government’s Act of 1991, more than 20 years have passed. For the meeting I gave the instructions for the Government to finalize this work.

According to Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Ilyukhin, administrative barriers hinder the flow of tourists to the region. In 2015, only 13 cruise ships visited Kamchatka while 19 calls were planned. The rest of ships were either not approved by border authorities or cancelled by the organizers over long approval procedures.

“In the nearest years we should boost tourist flows within the Kamchatka PDA frameworks. Cruise tourism is among the key factors. For that purpose we develop our port infrastructure. Net year will see the completion of the passenger terminal. It will ensure comfortable conditions for passengers and open new opportunities for cruise programmes,” said Vladimir Ilyukhin.

Yury Trutnev said that introduction of Free Port regime would have a positive effect on tourism development. Draft Federal Law on Free Port of the Far East developed by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East has been submitted to the State DumaIt provides for expansion of the Free Port status to 14 municipalities in four regions of the Far East, including Kamchatka.

“State Duma will consider the bill in the first reading this week. We hope it will pass within a month and a half. Then we will expand the Free Port regime,” Yury Trutnev said.

According to Vladimir Ilyukhin, simplified visa regime will let increase the stay of cruise ships from 3 to 8 days.

According to official data, tourist services in Kamchatka region are annually provided to some 60,000 persons. In 2014, local tourists companies serviced some 23,000 Kamchatka citizens, 24,000 people from other regions of Russia and about 14,500 foreign tourists. The year of 2015 saw a considerable growth of tourist flow. In the 9-month period, Kamchatka region was visited by 66,000 tourists (12% more than in January-December 2014). The growth was primarily driven by Russian tourists, the number of which totaled 30,000 t.