The State Duma has adopted in the first reading a bill on the creation of a national system of tourist trails

The State Duma approved in the first reading the bill on the creation of a national system of tourist trails. The document introduces legal mechanisms necessary for systematic work with this type of infrastructure: a single register of trails is created, rules for their arrangement and land use are established, and the concept of a trail passport is introduced.

The draft amendments to the law "On the Fundamentals of Tourist Activity in the Russian Federation" were introduced by an inter-factional group of deputies headed by Vice Speaker Victoria Abramchenko. The development was carried out over three years with the participation of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, VEB.RF and the expert community - as part of the implementation of the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development Sangadzhi Tarbaev noted that visiting national tourist trails should be free for all citizens of Russia. Monetization, according to him, can only concern adjacent infrastructure: hotels, food outlets, recreation areas. He emphasized that the passage along the trails themselves will remain free.

Today, 1,754 trails have been registered in 79 regions, but Russia still lacks a unified system for their creation and management. The bill proposes to distinguish between the concepts of "trail" and "route", and also defines a trail as an independent resource for non-mechanical types of transportation: walking, skiing, cycling, horse riding, etc.