Against the background of sanctions, RZD Tour increased its net profit by 405

times The main reasons are the resumption of travel in RUSSIA after the covid-19 pandemicand the closure of air links with other countries,experts say

According to the results of 2022, the revenue of the structure of RZD "RZD Tour" increased by almost 77%, to more than 944 million rubles, net profit increased 405 times, to almost 48 million rubles, follows from the financial statements of the company, which RBC has read .

“Changes primarily occurred due to the removal of all epidemiological restrictions, the redistribution of passenger flows within the country, the general constant growth of tourist interest in rail travel,” the press service of RZD Tour noted.

In March 2020, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian Railways began to reduce the number of trains. Two months later, the HEAD of the company, Oleg Belozerov, reported to President Vladimir Putin that it had canceled more than half of all long-distance trains, and RZD's passenger traffic had fallen by 80%. In addition, the holding introduced a number of restrictions - it applied a new seating arrangement for passengers, taking into account the recommended distance, and obliged them to wear masks along the way. Russiabegan to lift epidemiological restrictions in early spring 2022 amid a decrease in the incidence of CORONAVIRUS. Last year, after these restrictions were lifted, more than 15,000 people took part in the rail trips developed by RZD Tour, as part of 340 tourist groups from 77 regions of Russia, which is 60% more than in 2021, the press added. - company service.

What is RZD Tour

The RZD Tour company, established in 2005, until 2011 was mainly engaged in organizing charter flights and exclusive events on trains - conferences, business meetings, team buildings. Then the company decided to reorient itself to the tourist direction and organized locomotive tours in Moscow and St. Petersburg , along the Circum-Baikal Railway and cruises along the Trans-Siberian Railway and the northern part of the country on the Imperial Russia train. These trips were focused mainly on foreigners. However, in 2020, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which imposed restrictions on air travel abroad, RZD Tour began to develop a direction in the field of domestic tourism. The first cruise railway route appeared - "The Greatness of the North" ( Moscow - Mountain park Ruskeala in Karelia - Arkhangelsk - Veliky Ustyug - Moscow).

Now the company is both a tour operator and a carrier (it rents trains with a locomotive crew), offering customers various cruises, sightseeing and one-day tours. Among the new destinations are the "Pearl of the Caucasus" (Moscow - Maikop - Vladikavkaz - Grozny - Derbent - Nalchik - Moscow), "Belarusian Voyage" (Moscow - Brest - MINSK - Moscow), several tours to  Karelia. There are no other companies in Russia that organize rail cruises on a regular basis.

What helped the company grow

The growth in net profit and revenue of RZD Tour, in particular, is associated with a “low base” in 2021 (in 2021, profit amounted to only 118 thousand rubles), when the company just started opening the first routes with an emphasis on domestic tourism, says the chairman All-Russian Association of Passengers Ilya Zotov.

In addition, in 2022, immediately after the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine , the European Union completely closed the sky for Russian aircraft, recalls Zotov. Other countries joined this decision, including the United States , Switzerland and Norway. Since the beginning of the special operation, 11 airports in southern Russia have been closed to civilian flights. At the same time, the cost of air tickets for the remaining destinations for Russians is quite high, the expert points out.

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Against the backdrop of Western sanctions, competition between aviation and rail transport has intensified, Ilya Umansky, president of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, confirms. But one should not take this trend as something long-term and talk about a real reorientation of passengers to rail transport, he is sure.

The basis for the further development of railway tourism can be the support from the state of such cruises, by analogy with the aviation industry, Zotov believes. Last year, the authorities allocated 100 billion rubles. on the development of domestic air travel so that it does not fall below 100 million people. As a result, in 2022 they decreased by 13%, to 95.1 million passengers. There are no subsidies to support rail cruises in Russia. But even in the absence of state support, the financial performance of RZD Tour this year will at least remain at the level of the past, Zotov believes.

RBC sent inquiries to the press services of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance.