Since the beginning of the year, three new residents have appeared in the tourism cluster project managed by JSC "Resorts of the North Caucasus" (KSK). These are the companies "Pik" and "Vershina", new residents of the SEZ "Veduchi" in the Chechen Republic, as well as "Tourist Center" - the first resident of the SEZ "Armkhi" and "Tsori" in the territory of the Dzheyrakhsky and Sunzhensky municipal districts of the Republic of Ingushetia.
New Residents Projects
The company "Peak" built the hotel complex "Edelweiss" 3* at the resort "Veduchi" with 86 rooms of different comfort levels - from compact economy class rooms to improved standard rooms, deluxe rooms and apartments, it is already accepting guests. The complex includes a restaurant, lobby and karaoke bars, an entertainment and health zone with a swimming pool, sauna and hamam, a games area with tennis and billiards, a massage room and a gym.
In turn, Vershina built and opened a modern tourist base, Chechenski, at the resort. In winter, there will be a ski and snowboard equipment rental point, in summer — a mountain bike rental point, as well as an excursion bureau, where tourists of the Veduchi VTRK will be able to purchase a guided trip on ATVs or jeeps to the historical sights of the Chechen Republic. Accommodation in nine rooms and a hostel are available on the territory of the tourist base, there are also three cinemas, six game rooms, a small billiard room and other leisure facilities.
The Tourist Center company plans to build a multi-profile shopping and leisure center, Gostiny Dvor Armkhi, on the territory of the Armkhi All-Russian Shopping and Entertainment Complex. The facility will include a local history museum, shopping arcades where guests of the resort will be offered regional food products, souvenir shops, a restaurant with a summer terrace and a coffee shop, as well as sports and playgrounds for children. The volume of investment in the project will be about 12.6 million rubles from the resident's own funds, without attracting borrowed financing.
"We are pleased to welcome the first resident of the North Caucasus tourism cluster in the Republic of Ingushetia. Despite the fact that the development strategy of JSC KSK assigns the resorts "Armkhi" and "Tsori" to the second stage of the project, the republican authorities and regional investors are working ahead of the curve. The flow of tourists to the resort is constantly growing, so it is important to expand the infrastructure and recreation opportunities for guests of the region, including in the summer," said Odes Baysultanov, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for North Caucasus Affairs.
The total investment volume of the three new SEZ residents will amount to more than 483.6 million rubles, including through their own funds and borrowed financing. More than 110 new jobs will be created. At the same time, the total volume of attracted investments of all 30 SEZ residents within the North Caucasus tourism cluster currently amounts to more than 21 billion rubles.
"Investors' confidence in the resort's development is confirmed by the increase in the average cost of an investment application. If in 2014 the average volume of declared investments per resident at the Arkhyz VTRK was about 115 million rubles, then in 2018 this amount increased almost threefold and already amounts to more than 330 million rubles," the press service of JSC KSK noted.
Signing of an agreement with Doppelmayr
Not only Russian investors are showing interest in the resorts of the North Caucasus. On June 5, during the working visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Austria, a memorandum of cooperation in the development of the North Caucasus tourism cluster was signed between JSC KSK and the Austrian-Swiss company Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH.
"One of the key objectives of the partnership will be the development of the tourist village of Dukka as part of the all-season resort "Arkhyz" within the framework of a possible agreement on co-financing the construction of ski infrastructure facilities. In addition, the possibility of providing JSC "KSK" with a commodity loan with a preferential interest rate for the purchase of Doppelmayr cable cars for use at resorts in the North Caucasus will be worked out. Also, in the future, the parties will consider the possibility of creating a Russian-Austrian joint venture for the production of cable cars," the press service of JSC "KSK" specified.
Preparations for signing the Russian-Austrian memorandum were initiated following the trip of the delegation of the Russian Ministry for North Caucasus Affairs, JSC KSK and JSC KRSK under the chairmanship of Odessa Baysultanov to Austria in March of this year. During the trip, the Russian delegation held a working meeting with the management of Doppelmayr, inspected the company's production facilities and visited the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl, where cable cars under the Doppelmayr brand are operated.
Investors are ready to invest 1.5 billion rubles in Arkhyz
The continuous work of JSC "KSK" to attract investors yields results. In early June, at the Supervisory Board of the tourist and recreational special economic zone "Arkhyz" in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, which was held at the resort site, business plans of potential residents were considered, ready to invest in the development of the hotel and commercial infrastructure of the VTRK over 1.45 billion rubles.
“In particular, one of the companies is interested in building a hotel complex on the territory of the tourist village of Lunnaya Polyana with 76 rooms and a capacity of up to 166 people, with a restaurant, lobby and lounge bars, a SPA center, a children's playroom, parking, as well as rental and storage services for ski and summer sports equipment,” the press service reported.
Another potential resident plans to build and operate the Five Mountains hotel complex on the northern slope of the Romantik tourist village, where new ski slopes and cable cars will open by the 2018/2019 winter season. There will be 138 rooms available for accommodation with a capacity of up to 276 people, a restaurant, lobby bar, parking, SPA center, billiards, children's leisure center, rental and storage facilities, as well as a picnic area with gazebos and walking routes. In addition, the project includes the construction of a chalet complex of 18 cottages for 144 people.
The third applicant is interested in building an economy-class capsule hotel that will accommodate 600 guests at a time. It is also planned to build an office building, two screen bars, a bath complex with a laundry, a multi-purpose playground and an open parking lot.
According to the CEO of JSC KSK, Hasan Timizhev, the total volume of planned investments is over 1.45 billion rubles, and some of the financing will be provided by attracting credit funds. About 200 jobs will also be created.
Why Caucasian resorts attract investors
All resorts of the North Caucasus tourism cluster are being developed on the territory of tourism and recreational special economic zones with a special legal, economic and organizational regime. The mechanism of special economic zones assumes preferences for investors in such key areas as tax breaks, simplification of administrative barriers.
Also, state support measures for investors include subsidies to reimburse part of the costs of paying interest on loans. An important form of state support for SEZ residents is the provision of long-term lease of land plots on preferential terms. In addition, SEZ residents receive free connection to utility infrastructure.
As noted by H. Timizhev, the combination of the specified preferences gives residents of the SEZ approximately 20–30% in savings, which significantly reduces the cost of the investment project and, in modern market conditions, provides a serious competitive advantage.
"JSC KSK provides SEZ residents with all the necessary assistance in implementing planned projects - from prompt registration of land leases and connection to utility infrastructure to architectural supervision and assistance in recruiting and training personnel. I can compare because I also work in Sochi, where there are no tax and rental benefits that we receive in Arkhyz. My company has been a resident of the Arkhyz SEZ since 2015, and since 2018 we have been working at the Veduchi resort - so far as an investor, but we expect to receive the status of a SEZ resident in the near future," said Pik shareholder Andrey Kuznetsov.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru