ST. PETERSBURG, October 1. /TASS/. The law on the introduction of a resort fee in St. Petersburg comes into force on October 1. From April 1, 2024, all adult travelers must pay a resort fee in the amount of 100 rubles ($ 1,04) per day, until then a zero rate will be in effect.

No changes until April 1

"From October 1, in accordance with the legislation - federal and ours - we begin to form a register of resort fee operators, that is, accommodation facilities that provide hotel services or temporary accommodation services. It will be formed until December 1. At the end of this year [2023] or the beginning of next year [2024], testing with hotels will begin. Moreover, IT specialists of hotels are now participating in the development of this system. Therefore, we do not plan to collect resort fee. So far, in fact, this is preparatory work," Sergey Korneyev, chairman of the St. Petersburg Tourism Development Committee, explained to TASS, pointing out that nothing will change for tourists until April 1, 2024.

Payment of the fee will become mandatory for both Russian and foreign travelers from April 1, 2024. At the same time, the fee will not be charged for the first day of arrival. The law establishes more than 20 preferential categories of citizens who are completely exempt from the innovation.

The funds received in the budget will be used exclusively for financial provision of works on design, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, improvement and repair of resort infrastructure facilities.

The experiment on the introduction of a resort fee has been in effect since 2018 in the Crimea, Altai, Krasnodar and Stavropol Regions. In 2022, it was extended, St. Petersburg and the federal territory Sirius were also included.