The start of the resort tax experiment in Crimea will likely be postponed until 2019, RIA Novosti reports, citing Alexey Chernyak, head of the republic's parliamentary committee on health resorts and tourism.
Earlier, deputies The Crimean State Council adopted a local law "On the Introduction of a Resort Tax" at its session. According to the law, the experiment will begin on May 1, 2018, with the fee set at 10 rubles per day from May to September and 0 rubles the rest of the year. However, Crimean experts and activists proposed postponing the introduction of the resort tax until 2019. They believe the peninsula's infrastructure is not yet ready for the experiment, and it would be better to wait until the bridge across the Kerch Strait is opened. Furthermore, they believe tourists and industry representatives are not yet clear on the fee collection process.
"We're currently working on it and will likely make changes (to the regional law – ed.) next year to defer the start of the resort tax by a year," the agency's source said.
According to him, Crimea needs time to prepare accommodation facilities for the experiment.
"The fee is small, but processing the information at hotels could create additional difficulties and queues. It's not the resort fee itself that could have a negative impact, but rather how it's processed. Therefore, we want to refine all the mechanisms and avoid any potential bottlenecks so that the experiment's launch goes smoothly and doesn't cause confusion among tourism industry representatives," Chernyak emphasized.
Moreover, according to him, the resulting time reserve will allow the republic's accommodation facilities to emerge from the shadows and put all participants in the experiment on an equal footing.
Source: trn-news.ru