Page 96 - RUSRptSept18

MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom, and T2 RTK Holding. FAS previously warned the operators the differences in tariffs for subscribers travelling in Russia will have to be dropped. Russia is so large that the companies were treating the different regions as different countries, charging more for, say, a Muscovite using their phone in the Far East than they charged for a local user that had a contract based in, say, Vladivostok. FAS has ruled that as Russia is a single country then a single tariff should apply throughout. Previously FAS also pledged that the government will compensate operators for some of the costs of regional expansion of their business, but the details have not yet emerged. In 2017 the four largest mobile operators earned RUB30bn ($0.44bn) from domestic roaming, TMT Consulting estimated, as cited by Vedomosti d aily.
9.1.9 Tourism sector news
Russian tourists become the most numerous in Turkey, bringing an average €725mn per month to Turkish hotels, Vedomosti daily said on August 3 citing the data by the Association of Tourism Operators of Russia (ATOR). Russian tourists are back in Turkey after in 2015 Russia imposed a ban on charter flights to Turkey after the downing of a Russian jet near the Syrian border. The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey subsequently shrank by 30% y/y to 25.4mn in 2016. The number of Russian tourists increased in 2017 to 4.72mn from only 0.87mn in 2016. For 2018 the Turkish government expects foreign tourist arrivals to rise to 37mn-38mn in 2018, generating revenue of $30bn. It also predicts more than 6mn Russian and more than 5mn German tourists will visit Turkey in 2018. Antalya is the most popular destination for Russian tourists in Turkey, with about 2.5mn arrivals in January-July 2018, or 80-90% of all arrivals. In 2017 4.5mn of Russians visited Antalya, out of 4.7mn total for Turkey. Russian annexed Crimea peninsula still cannot beat popular charter destination, with 3.28mn Russians visiting in January-June, according to the local tourism ministry. Vedomosti notes, however, that the data could be conflating tourists with the business visitors and visiting family members.
A record 2.5mn Russian tourists flew to Antalya in January-July, the local airport reported. This is the most since records started five years ago. 80-90% of tourists that go to Turkey go to Antalya. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, in 2017 the resort was visited by 4.5mn Russian tourists. This year, compared to the past, sales to Turkey increased by 59%, Tez Tour - by 30%, Level.Travel online service - by 68%, their representatives said. The tourist attractiveness of Turkey for Russians is growing rapidly for the second year in a row, says Dmitry Gorin, advisor to the head of Rosturism, such an extensive growth is provided by an extensive hotel base and attractive prices. The share of Russian tourists in the resort remains the largest for seven months - 37%, according to the airport. In a separate July of 2018, when 739,544 people came from Russia to Antalya, the share of Russians was 40.7%. And in June 2018, almost 1mn Russians visited Turkey - a record since 2010, according to the statistics of the local Ministry of Culture and Tourism (there is no earlier data).
Turkey expects more than 5mn Russian tourists to visit the country in 2018 , according to Celal Kilic, adviser on culture and tourism at the Turkish Embassy in Russia. From January 1 to June 30, 2018, 2,400,000 Russians visited Turkey, he said. President of the Russian Tourism Industry Union (RTIU) Sergei Shpilko said, for his part, that more than 200,000 Turkish tourists would visit Russia in 2018, which is about 10% more than last year.
9.1.10 Utilities sector news
96 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com
The Ministry of Energy has finalized the program to modernize Russia’s older generation of thermal power plants (TPPs). The program will see a