Today, on February 14, a meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Dagestan was held at the National Library of the Republic of Dagestan, during which the results of the department's activities for 2022 were summed up and tasks for 2023 were outlined. The meeting was attended by members of the Board, heads of executive authorities of the republic, heads and deputy heads of municipalities, members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Tourism of the RD, the Artistic and Expert Council on Folk Arts under the Government of the RD, representatives of the tourism industry and others. Emin Merdanov, Minister of Tourism and NHP of the Republic of Moldova, delivered the main report to the audience. Speaking about the development of the tourism industry of the republic, the Minister stressed that in 2022 there was a positive trend in this direction. Thus, the tourist flow to Dagestan increased by 43.7%, and the volume of travel industry services exceeded seven billion. "According to Dagstat, in 2022 the volume of tourism industry services in the region amounted to 7 billion 951 million rubles, which is 15% more than in 2021. The number of rooms has also increased. Thus, the number of beds in the register of identified collective accommodation facilities has increased to 25,979," Emin Merdanov said. The head of the department also said that in 2022 a new measure of support for municipalities was launched – the provision of subsidies for the implementation of projects of local initiatives aimed at the development of tourism in municipalities. Within the framework of the launched program, 9 projects were supported in 8 municipalities. "This measure made it possible to solve the urgent issues facing municipalities, in terms of creating the necessary infrastructure, as well as ensuring security in key tourist destinations, organizing sanitary zones, improving beaches, arranging viewing platforms," Emin Merdanov stressed. Also, within the framework of the national project "Tourism and the hospitality industry" in 2022, a competitive selection was held for the creation of modular non-capital accommodation facilities. "According to the results of the competition, 10 winners were identified, 10 projects for 104 rooms and 409 beds were implemented and 182.54 million rubles of extra-budgetary funds were attracted," the minister stated. According to the Minister, it is necessary to implement large anchor investment projects in order to move the tourism product to a qualitatively new level in 2023. These include: the special economic zone of the tourist and recreational type "Caspian coastal cluster" on the territory of the Derbent district, as well as the Caspian resort "Kayakent" and the All-Russian children's center "Dagestan". Speaking about the SEZ in the Derbent district, Emin Merdanov noted that currently the Government of the Republic of Dagestan has formed a working group that is working on the inventory of land plots and real estate objects. Further, at the meeting of the board, reports of representatives of municipalities and heads of travel agencies were heard. In particular, the issues of the state and prospects of tourism development in the Gunib district, as well as the development of hand-made carpet making in the republic were discussed. At the end of the board meeting, a ceremony was held to award honorary diplomas of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Moldova to particularly distinguished representatives of tourism and folk arts and crafts.