RIVER CRUISE FLEET AS A FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRUISE TOURISM IN RUSSIA

Abstract

А cruise ship is the main attractant in cruise tourism. The article presents the results of the assessment of the current state of the operating cruise fleet. A database of cruise ships has been compiled. An analysis of the data showed that in the Russian Federation for 2020 113 vessels are in operation. Which is three times less than in Europe. The largest shipping companies are Vodo khod, Mosturflot, Doninturflot, Kama River Shipping Company, Sozvezdie, Gama. The average age of ships is 48.5 years. The bulk of the ships was built in Soviet times, in the middle of the XX century at European shipyards. Most in quantitative terms of four-deck motor ships of 301 and 302 projects, as well as three-deck motor ships of project 588. The total capacity of all vessels is 24.5 thousand seats. According to estimates, the entire fleet can serve about 650 thousand cruise passengers. There is a tendency to reduce the fleet. According to the assessment of only one factor — the cruise fleet, it can be concluded that the goals set in the Russian Tourism Deve lopment Strategy to double the Russian cruise tourism market by 2035 are difficult to achieve.