Iron curtain or temporary measures?

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At a meeting on transport development held yesterday, Russian President Putin V.V. said: “The timing of opening the borders of Russia for citizens to go abroad is still unclear. The development of domestic tourism should be accelerated - appropriate measures will be included in the national plan to normalize business in life in the country. Now both Russia and foreign states are preparing or are starting to gradually exit regimes of internal restrictions, but so far it’s quite obvious that it’s impossible, it’s hard to say how these processes will take place, including when and what foreign destinations will be available for our citizens to travel n. "

"Transport companies, travel agencies and the hotel business should create attractive routes, open new directions in our country, where it will be convenient to get there and spend time with interest for people," he added.

At the same time, the head of the Federal Tourism Agency Zarina Doguzova told the president that domestic tourism could become one of the main drivers of economic recovery in the regions. According to her, about 60 million people travel around the country annually, who “leave several trillion rubles in regional economies, and also create about 2.5 million jobs.”

Last year, Russians spent $ 20 billion on trips abroad. But with a drop in oil prices, foreign currency for foreign tourism may not be enough: according to the Central Bank, this year the country will miss 169 billion dollars in export revenue, the total volume of which will collapse to a minimum since 2005 (250 billion).

This, according to the calculations of the central bank, will lead to a deficit in the balance of payments: the outflow of foreign currency will exceed its inflow by major items by $ 35 billion. The state will have to cover the hole at the expense of foreign exchange reserves, which, according to the forecast of the Central Bank, will lose $ 47 billion per year.

Recall that since the end of March, Russian airlines have been completely banned from international flights, only a few flights remain to return the Russians home. In the second half of March, demand for domestic flights began to collapse rapidly: in the first week, the decline was 90%, and by the end of the month it reached 95%.

International air traffic will be resumed no earlier than in April 2021, said Vladislav Filev, the main owner of the Russian airline S7 Group. According to his forecasts, the passenger flow of Russian companies will halve by the end of the crisis - from 120 million to 60 million customers annually. Against this background, to maintain infrastructure, carriers will have to increase ticket prices by an average of three, and "no one can pull it, the country can’t afford it."

Most charter companies go bankrupt. At present, only Aeroflot, S7, Utair and Ural Airlines have a chance to remain in the market “in one form or another” without state support, Filev said.

What is it? Time constraints or iron curtain?

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