Tourism in Buryatia has doubled in ten years: the government updates the program

The authorities of Buryatia will make changes to the state program “Tourism Development”, approved in 2018. The document is aimed at updating information on the current state of the tourism industry in the country.

In particular, according to the project, updated data on the development of tourism in the region are introduced into the program. Over the past ten years, the number of persons accommodated in collective accommodation facilities has doubled and by the end of 2025 amounted to 672.3 thousand people. By the number of tourist arrivals, Buryatia ranks third in the Far Eastern Federal District. The main goals of tourists’ travels are recreation – 66 percent, business and professional goals – 18 percent, treatment and rehabilitation – 7 percent. At the same time, 78 percent of tourists make trips lasting from one to three days, 8 percent from four to seven days, 3 percent from eight to fourteen days and 5 percent from fifteen to twenty-eight days.

The volume of paid services provided to tourists has grown 2.5 times over the past decade and amounted to 5.9 billion rubles in 2025. The contribution of tourism to the gross regional product of the republic is estimated at 3.6 percent according to data for 2024.

In addition, the draft establishes a norm according to which municipalities within one financial year will be able to submit no more than one application for a subsidy. The wording in terms of improvement of medical and recreational areas is also specified: the concept of “local significance” is excluded from it. This is due to changes in the federal legislation – from the laws “On natural healing resources, medical and recreational areas and resorts” and “On general principles of the organization of local self-government”, the powers of local self-government bodies to create, develop and protect such territories are excluded, and the very concept of a medical and recreational area and a resort of “local importance” is abolished.