Web.rf and Azimut Hotels will build hotels in Baikalsk
VEB.rf state corporation can invest in the construction of two hotels in the territory of the former Baikal Central Bank in the Irkutsk Region, worth 8 billion rubles. Their operator will be Azimut Hotels Alexander Klyachin. The payback period of hotels will be about 15 years, and the main difficulty of their implementation will be the search for personnel. The interest of tourists in Baikal is growing, but the culture of resort recreation on the lake is not yet very developed.
VEB.rf and Azimut Hotels Alexander Klyachin signed an agreement on the construction of two hotels with a total fund of 360 rooms in Baikalsk, the Irkutsk region. About this “Kommersant” was told in the state corporation. The total amount of investment in these projects will amount to 8 billion rubles. Azimut Hotels, as expected, will deal with hotels management.
Both hotels will be located on the site of the former Baikal cellulose-paper plant (BCBK).
“Along with housing construction, the development of hospitality infrastructure will allow you to turn the territory into a modern area of the city,” says Alexander Tarabrin, deputy chairman of the VEB.rf. Azimut Hotels CEO Maxim Brodovsky believes that hotels in Baikalsk will allow the network to expand the geography of presence, will be in demand among travelers and business tourists who come to Baikal.
The construction of VEB.rf hotels and Azimut Hotels is part of the BCBK project project. It is planned to attract a large pool of investors to him, says Mr. Tarabrin. The industrial enterprise worked in Baikalsk from 1966 to 2013 and was considered a source of Baikal’s pollution. The plant was closed by decision of the federal government: its debts are 1.75 billion rubles. Bushed out Web.rf.
It became known about the plans of the state corporation to build a sanatorium-resort complex on the site of the BCSBK in 2021. The total building area was estimated at 1 thousand hectares, and the total investment size was 60 billion rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated August 3, 2021). Now the industrial site is cleaned of garbage and industrial production, an infrastructure has been created for further work, says Igor Kobzev Governor of the Irkutsk Region. In 2022, a master plan for the development of all of Baikalsk was developed.
The launch of hotels, the operator of which can be Azimut Hotels, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2030.
Each of the objects is designed for 180 numbers. The hotel of the “Five Star” category will take 14 hectares and will require the investment of 5 billion rubles. Its composition will also include cottages, sp-complex and related infrastructure. The hotel of the “four stars” level will take 5 hectares, it is planned to invest 3 billion rubles in it.
The managing partner of Ivashkevich Hospitality Stanislav Ivashkevich suggests that the payback of hotel projects in Baikalsk is about 15 years old. He explains that the Irkutsk region is in demand, including guests from China, which provide some hotels in the region almost complete loading all year. Baikalsk himself, according to the expert, can be considered a successful location on the coast due to the presence of road, treatment facilities and other infrastructure. But Mr. Ivashkevich warns that the launch of hotels involves the involvement of about 300 personnel. “To find such a number of employees in the Irkutsk region is problematic,” he said.
Maxim Brodovsky notes that the Irkutsk region is now experiencing a tourist boom. According to Rosstat, in January – November 2024, 969.5 thousand people stopped in the regional hotels. A year by the year, the indicator grew by 9.4%. For comparison: in Russia as a whole, an increase in the same period amounted to 10.9%, up to 79.3 million people. Vice-President of the Association of Tour operators of Russia Sergey Romashkin says that the growth of demand for trips to Baikal as a whole corresponds to the general picture of the domestic tourism market. 80% of travelers, according to him, examine the lake precisely from the Irkutsk region. Mr. Romashkin doubts that the city will be convenient for excursion tourists due to the complex logistics of travel. And the culture of resort recreation on the lake has not yet been formed, he states.
