The first all – Russian Congress of public associations of tourism, hospitality and sports "national Projects-2020"was held online in the Public chamber of Russia. The event was attended by more than 5,000 representatives of the tourism industry from 42 regions of Russia. Including 94 students and seven teachers of the faculty of service and tourism of the Volga region Academy of sports and tourism.
During the speeches and discussions at the Congress, the most painful topics for the domestic tourism industry were touched upon. Such as the lack of tools for implementing strategies and national projects in the regions associated with the tourism sector; contradictions in laws and excessive regulation of the industry; low availability of tourist services for Russians, disunity and lack of a single information field in the tourism sector for government authorities, businesses, consumers, and many others.
The shocking statistics presented in the information and analytical report of the head of the expert-analytical center of the Union of tourism and hospitality Roman Yeremyan caused a heated discussion in the audience, where the Congress was broadcast online. But, as they say, the bitter truth…
According to the head of the Department of service and tourism Lyudmila Petrik, a realistic view of the situation will help students in the process of developing projects and preparing coursework and final qualifying papers.
- During the technical break, a lively discussion about the strategy for the development of the tourism and hospitality industry unfolded in the audience, - says Petrik. – I realized that the guys are really interested in creating basic principles that will help avoid serious crises in the future. I was particularly inspired by the active exchange of experience and useful information at the Congress. Representatives of various regions presented their know-how – new tools and techniques that help to develop in this complex market. Of course, the overall impression from all the reports is not the most optimistic – today the industry has sunk.  But the crisis makes you stronger. You need to understand that people who have been actively engaged in this business for a long time are real enthusiasts, adventurous fans, forever infected with a passion for travel… And despite the fact that the participants of the Congress were separated by hundreds of kilometers, the energy emanating from the speakers during on-line broadcasts reached the students as well. That is why, at the end of the Congress, we all agreed that if professionals and investors unite and create conditions for the development of tourism, there is still hope.
According to Petrik, a lot of useful suggestions were received during the Congress by teachers of the Volga Academy, Chairman of the state Committee for tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Sergey Ivanov and President Of the Association of hotels of Kazan and the Republic of Tatarstan, General Manager of the Relita hotel Gulnara Safina.
- For example, Gulnara Maratovna, who made a report on the topic "Regulation of hotel activities", proposed to introduce a differentiated VAT rate for the hotel industry, with a reduction of it for existing enterprises to 5-6%, and with full exemption - for new hotel facilities....  In addition, according to Safina, a number of tax breaks are needed, as well as simplification of migration rules, etc. After listening to this report, we all agreed that these measures will help, first, to stabilize the market, create a favorable investment climate, which will lead to an increase in the export of tourist services and increase the competitiveness of our tourist products on the world market.