TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY SECTOR IN THE RUSSIAN EXCLAVE AMID STAFF SHORTAGE

Abstract

This article examines the challenges facing the tourism and hospitality sector in the Kaliningrad region, a Russian exclave. It analyses trends in key indicators, including tourist flows, gross value added and tourism infrastructure, focusing on collective accommodation establishments and food and beverage service establishments. Particular attention is paid to workforce availability as a potential constraint on the sector’s development. Drawing on comparative geographical analysis, economic and statistical methods, and cartographic analysis, the study provides evidence of the region’s strong potential as a domestic tourism destination and documents growth in the sector. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of accommodation establishments in the region increased by 55 %, reaching 393; accommodation capacity grew by 38.9 %, to 26,373 bed places; and the number of food and beverage service establishments - cafés, restaurants and bars - rose by 15 %, to 696. Over the same period, employment in the sector increased by only 29 %, to 5,718 people. The analysis confirms that demographic factors pose the principal threat to the sector’s labour supply across the region, particularly the marked decline of 53,000 in the population aged 20 –29. It also identifies spatial imbalances within the region that present additional challenges to maintaining a stable labour supply in tourism, notably the concentration of existing and newly developed tourism facilities in the coastal zone. The study argues that labour shortages associated with demographic conditions across Russia are exacerbated by the region’s exclave status. It also identifies limitations to addressing these shortages by attracting workers from other Russian regions with greater labour potential. The findings indicate that encouraging higher birth rates remains the most effective long-term response, while managed intraregional migration offers the most effective approach in the short and medium term. A range of federal and regional measures is being implemented to support tourism in the region, including through the “Employment Promotion” initiative under Russia’s “Demography” National Project. However, greater attention should be paid to the issues and proposals presented in this article, including within the “Tourism Workforce” initiative under the “Tourism and Hospitality” National Project.