A large resort cluster cannot be created by a single participant. A landowner can have a territory, but does not have to be a hotel operator. A developer can build, but does not always manage the flow of tourists. A management company can load units, but does not have to single-handedly determine the strategy of the entire territory. A medical operator creates the reason for arrival, but he needs accommodation, services, routes and infrastructure. Investors can invest money, but they need clear rights, reporting and a mechanism for return or profit.
So the resort cluster should be built as a partnership model: land, development, management, medicine, services, investment and public infrastructure should be divided into roles, but linked by a single strategy, and if not, the project will break up into separate hotels, glampings, units and services that will compete with each other, rather than strengthen the territory.
1. The resort cluster is not one object, but a system of participants
A regular hotel can be built and operated as a single business, a resort cluster works differently, with land, roads, engineering, accommodation, aparthotels, glampings, medical center, restaurants, bath complexes, routes, transportation, rental, events, management company, unit investors, project shareholders, individual queue developers and local entrepreneurs.
If all of these elements are not connected by a common model, you get chaotic development, each building his own facility, selling his room, his restaurant, his bathhouse, his route, in the first stage it can look like growth, in the second stage it will start competition, lower prices, conflict of standards, congestion of roads, different levels of service and loss of overall value of the territory.
A professional resort cluster should not be like a random property market, but a managed ecosystem, each participant has its own economy, but the same rules: master plan, architectural code, service standards, a common logic of guest movement, a common marketing strategy, transparent rules of connection to services and a clear model of income distribution.
This is what distinguishes the resort city from a set of tourist centers.
The role of the land owner: not just to sell the land, but to set the strategy of the territory
The landowner in a major resort project should not think of himself as a seller of hectares. If he just sells land to different developers without rules, he quickly loses control over the quality of the territory. One will build a hotel, another glamping, a third cottage, a fourth restaurant, a fifth fence. In a few years, a strong land can turn into an uncoordinated development.
The landowner's job is to create a development platform, and that requires a concept, a master plan, functional zoning, a legal roadmap, an engineering strategy, architectural rules, access to services, a model for developers to participate, and an understanding of what areas are being sold, what are being leased, what remain under the service core, what are being developed through project joint ventures.
If the landowner has to keep the main meaning of the territory, if the project is created as a health resort city, you can't give the key areas to random development that will destroy the silence, the views, the routes, the medical core or future services.
Land in this model is not a saleable commodity; it is a strategic base of resort capital.
3. The role of the developer: to build not square meters, but part of the resort system
A resort cluster needs a developer because it knows how to do what the land owner often does not know: design, obtain permits, build, manage contractors, finance queues, sell units, work with banks, bring the product to market.
But a developer in a resort cluster doesn't have to move the urban model one to one, you can build a housing complex in a city, sell apartments and get out, and in a resort area, that logic is dangerous, and if a developer sells units but doesn't create an operational model, investors will then be left with properties that need to be rented, repaired, maintained and loaded.
The resort developer has to build a facility that works in a shared system at once. The layout has to take into account hotel operations. The buildings have to be service-related. The units have to be standardized. The engineering has to be year-round. The public spaces have to support a long stay. The investor contracts have to be linked to the management company.
The developer is not building a separate building; he's building part of the future resort economy.
4. The role of the management company: to turn real estate into a profitable hotel product
The management company is responsible for the daily economy: it sells load, manages tariffs, receives guests, organizes cleaning, service, reporting, reviews, marketing, investor payments, repair fund, standards and sales channels.
In aparthotels with units, the UK is particularly important, because without it, units become disparate apartments, and with it, they become the room stock of a single hotel product.
But in a resort cluster, the UK should be broader than a regular accommodation operator, it should link aparthotels, glampings, medical programs, restaurants, baths, routes, transfers, rentals, clubs, events and international marketing, and it should sell not only the night stay, but the stay program.
Balance is important here, because the UK doesn't have to be an opaque monopolist that takes over the entire economy of the territory, but every owner doesn't have to manage their property separately, so you need contracts, KPIs, reporting, commission formula, auditing power, operator replacement rules and clear standards.
The C.I. is a non-service contractor, a financial trust mechanism between the developer, the investor and the guest.
5.The role of the medical operator: create a year-round reason for arrival
The medical operator is one of the main anchors for Altai. Conventional tourism is often seasonal. The medical and wellness direction can work all year round, because stress, burnout, insomnia, overweight, anxiety, depression and energy loss have no season.
If the health care provider is strong, they create programs like RDT, stress relief, sleep regeneration, energy recovery, health school, prevention, movement, bath practices, excursions, meals, lectures and medical supervision, which give the resort not just extra services, but a basic reason for coming.
But the medical operator doesn't have to carry the entire cluster, it's about creating meaning and programming, it needs developers and MCs, it needs travel operators, it needs food, it needs food, it needs specialty companies, it needs investment, it needs design companies and platforms.
The sanatorium core should be the center of meaning, but not the sole executor of the entire economy.
6 Role of service companies: creating diversity in the local area
The resort city is not only a room-pooled city, it needs services: restaurants, baths, swimming pools, rental, excursions, horses, alloys, snowmobiles, boats, quad bikes, children's programs, lecture halls, coworkings, local food stores, farm supplies, events, guides, translators, transport, security, medical support, cleaning, laundry, repair and improvement.
One landowner or one developer doesn't have to do everything by himself, it leads to overload and low quality, it's better to involve specialized companies, each of which is responsible for its product.
But they need to be connected not randomly, but according to the rules: the service company must understand where it works, what commission it pays, how it integrates into a single booking system, how it adheres to standards, how it serves guests of different facilities and how it participates in the general program of the resort.
The more quality services, the longer the tourist stays, the longer they stay, the higher the load, the higher the load, the more attractive the units and land, which is the main economic circle of the resort cluster.
7. Role of Unit Investors: Funding Room Fund and Receiving Management Income
Unit investors can be an important source of funding for a resort cluster: they buy rooms, apartments, modular houses or glamping units; the developer gets the money to build; the investor gets the facility; the management company gets the room pool; the territory gets the placement.
But unit investors need to be protected from high expectations, and they need to be honest about the returns, the costs, the fees, the repair fund, the seasonality, the personal use, the reporting and the risk, and if the developer promises too much and the MC can't make the payments, the credibility of the project will be destroyed.
The unit investor is not just a buyer; he is a future member of the cluster's reputation; if he does not have trust, he will argue, block decisions, demand a change in the CC and create conflict, so the contractual model must be transparent from the start.
8 Role of project JSC investors: to finance businesses that are not divided into units
Not all resorts are conveniently sold as units: Bath complex, restaurant, medical center, excursion company, rental, transport, glamping network, service center and management company work better as businesses.
They can create project-based JSCs, where investors invest, get shares, and participate in the profits of a particular business, and they can fund services that add value to the entire territory.
In Russia, this model may be related to investment platforms regulated by Federal Law 259-FZ. The law establishes the procedure for attracting investments through investment platforms, and the Bank of Russia maintains a register of operators of such platforms, which creates a legal framework for attracting private capital through securities or other envisaged instruments.
It's a big deal for a resort cluster, units fund accommodation, project AOs finance services, and together they create the entire economy of the area.
The role of the state and the municipality: infrastructure, rules and territorial development
The resort cluster cannot develop entirely outside the public system, requiring roads, energy, water, communications, sanitation, urban planning, tourism programs, security, small business support, training and land-use regulations.
In Russia, the government is already betting on tourism infrastructure and clusters, and at the 2026 tourism strategy session, the Russian government spoke directly about building the necessary infrastructure for large tourist clusters and supporting modular hotels.
Large tourism projects are also being actively discussed and implemented in Russia, for example, according to ATOR, among the largest projects under construction and developing in 2026 are the resort “New Anapa”, the cluster “White Dune” and other mega-resorts, where it is about hundreds of billions of rubles of investment and a significant share of private capital.
For Altai, this means that private initiative must be linked to regional programs, municipal documents, and infrastructure agendas, without which a large territory will be constantly hit by roads, electricity, land assignment, restrictions, and lack of public coordination.
10.The master plan as the main contract between the participants
The master plan in the partner model is not a beautiful schema, it's a management document that shows where what's going to happen, how the territory is going in line, who's in charge of what, what areas are being sold, what are being rented, where services are, where medicine is, where accommodation is, where glamping is, where roads are, where engineering is, where public spaces are, and where natural areas are untouchable.
Without a master plan, each participant will see only their own facility, the developer will see their own building, the UK will see their own room pool, the medical operator will see their own center, the restaurant will see their own traffic, the landowner will see their own plots, and the territory will collapse as a result.
With the master plan, everyone sees the overall strategy, and each new object has to answer the question: is it strengthening the cluster or just occupying the ground?
In Russia, tourism master plans are already becoming part of industry practice, with VEB.RF announcing in 2025 the completion of tourism schemes, or tourist master plans, for 12 Russian macro-territories and the identification of 115 investment lots, showing that tourism development is increasingly seen as a system of planning rather than a point-based construction.
For Altai, the master plan should be especially careful: low density, conservation of natural strength, views, routes, water, forest, silence, medical core, service centers and stagedness.
The Unified Control Logic: Who Makes Development Decisions
A partner cluster should have a coordination center, and it could be a management company in a territory, a board of partners, a coordination committee, a single development office, or a management structure in a landowner's office. It's not a name. It's a different thing, basically, a territory should have a body that protects not the interest of one participant, but the strategy of the entire cluster.
Such a center should coordinate the connection of new developers, service operators, project companies, medical programs, route companies, glamping, investors and infrastructure solutions, and make sure that each new facility strengthens the territory, not destroys its meaning.
If there is no center, each participant is optimizing their interest; the developer wants to build more meters of sales; the restaurant wants to take the most passable place; glamping wants the best natural point; the medical operator wants silence; the management company wants ease of use; the investor wants maximum payouts; the service company wants direct access to the guest; all these interests are normal, but without a common management logic, they quickly come into conflict.
In international practice, destination management organization logic is used to manage tourist areas, and the idea is that the territory develops not as a set of random objects, but as a single tourist product: with positioning, standards, routes, marketing, coordination of participants, quality protection and long-term reputation work.
For a resort cluster in Altai, the unified management logic must answer several questions: What are the first zones to develop? What are the first facilities to connect to the common system? Who has the right to build on the site? What are the requirements for architecture and service? How do common marketing work? How do service companies access guests? Who controls quality? Who decides on new queues? Who protects silence, views, routes and the medical core?
Without a resort, a resort city becomes a multi-owner settlement, and with one, it can become a managed resort ecosystem.
The Partnership Financial Model: Who Makes Money From What
The partnership model needs to be financially understandable, and if you don't divide the revenue streams in advance, conflict is almost inevitable, and the landowner, the developer, the management company, the medical operator, the service companies, the unit investors and the shareholders of the project joint stock companies need to understand where their income is, what they are spending and what they are responsible for.
The first stream is unit sales, and the developer builds an apartment hotel, hotel rooms, modular houses or glamping units, and sells them to private investors, and that money allows them to fund the building of a room stock.
The second stream is operating revenue from the accommodation, the guests pay for the accommodation, the management company withholds commission, pays operating expenses, generates reserves, and distributes income to unit owners according to an approved model.
The third stream is services revenue: medicine, RDT, stress programs, health schools, restaurants, baths, pools, excursions, rental, transfers, horses, alloys, snowmobiles, boats, children's programs, clubs and events, and it's services that make a resort city alive and increase the average check.
If a separate joint stock company is created under a bath complex, medical center, glamping network, restaurant, excursion company or service center, investors receive income not as unit owners, but as business shareholders, if there is a profit and a decision on its distribution.
The fifth stream is the income of the landowner, which can be the sale of a piece of land, long-term leases, leases with buybacks, land participation in a project joint-stock company, a share in a development project, turnover royalties, participation in a management company, or an increase in the value of the remaining land.
The sixth stream is the capitalization of the territory. It's not current revenue, but one of the main results. When you have a master plan, the first phase, the medical core, services, glamping, routes, management company and steady flow of guests, not only the built facility, but the entire area around it increases in value.
If these flows are not described in advance, participants will argue about who owns the income from breakfast, baths, medical programs, excursions, early arrivals, transfers and glamping trips. If all is described in advance, everyone understands their role and their economy.
14.The developer's entry model into the ground
Flexible models of developer entry are particularly important for Altai, not every construction business is ready to buy a large amount of land at once for real money. For many developers, capital is associated with urban projects, project financing, unsold apartments and expensive loans, so the landowner needs to offer not one scheme, but several options for participation.
The first model is direct sale of land for a specific site, which is simple but dangerous for the landowner, if there are no building rules and deadlines, and the developer can buy the land and freeze it, resell it, or build a facility that does not fit the overall strategy.
The second model is rent-to-redeem, where the developer can start the project without buying the land in full, and the landowner retains control, and the buy-out can be tied to the construction phase, unit sales, or the first phase.
The third model is a joint venture: the landlord contributes land or land use rights, the developer contributes construction, design, sales and financing, and the shares and profits are arranged.
The fourth model is a design company for a specific facility, such as an apartment hotel, glamping, bath complex or medical center, where land, money, construction and management are combined into a corporate design.
The fifth model is to exchange some of the units built for land, where the developer builds the facility, and the landlord gets a portion of the units, a share in the project, or the cash equivalent after the sale.
The sixth model is a phased buyout, and the developer takes a small plot first, then gets the right to buy out the next zone when they fulfill their obligations.
Such flexible models are especially important now that the classic urban apartment market has become heavier and developers are looking for new directions, but are not always ready to immediately freeze large capital in the ground.
15 How not to lose control of the territory
The main risk of landowners is to quickly sell strong territory piecemeal and lose control of future value. In the first stage, this can make money. In the second stage, the territory can be spoiled by different styles, fences, random objects, road conflicts, overloading of engineering and the lack of a single control logic.
To prevent this from happening, you need a set of tools.
The first tool is a master plan, which defines the structure of the territory, development queues, accommodation, services, medical core, roads, engineering zones, glampings, public spaces and natural areas.
The second tool is the architectural code, which protects the appearance of the area, altitude, materials, density, light, signs, fences and landing of objects on the terrain.
The third tool is contractual constraints, where the sale or lease of land must include obligations on designation, construction timelines, standards, connectivity to the common system and prohibition of actions that destroy the concept.
The fourth tool is the gradual transfer of land, so you don't have to give up all the territory at once, first, then check the execution, then the next zones.
The fifth tool is a single governance structure that controls the connectivity of participants, services, marketing, quality and rules of use of the shared infrastructure.
The sixth tool is ownership of the land in key assets, where if the landowner completely withdraws from all service and management companies, he loses influence, and it is better to retain a stake in the management company, the service core, the project JSC or the key infrastructure.
In a resort development, control of the environment is more important than quick sale, and if the environment is destroyed, the premium disappears.
16.Framework as a separate part of the partner model
A resort town requires people. It needs administrators, maids, doctors, masseurs, bathers, cooks, guides, instructors, drivers, grooms, guides, translators, technicians, marketers, managers, program managers, booking specialists and quality service personnel.
A shortage of staff can destroy even a good project. You can build beautiful buildings, but if there is no one to clean rooms, lead guests along routes, cook, treat, meet, translate, manage programs and solve household issues, the resort will quickly lose its rating.
So the partner model has to have a human resources unit, and you have to think ahead about housing, training, service standards, local staff, recruiting from other regions, medical personnel, guides, seasonal staff and management team.
This is particularly important for Altai, because if you build a new type of resort, you need to create not only tourist destinations, but also a permanent professional environment, and some people will live in the territory permanently, serve guests, develop services, open small businesses and form a new stationary composition of the resort city.
This is another argument for resort cities: With automation and reduced office employment, health, tourism and hospitality will remain a high valued sector.
17.International marketing as a general function of the cluster
A separate hotel is rarely able to reach China, Germany, Europe, the Middle East and Russian-speaking foreign audiences on its own, and it is expensive and requires competencies: language, partners, video, medical programs, legal packaging, transfer, service, reviews, international sales channels, work with tour operators and trust in the brand.
A resort cluster can do international marketing centrally, and one platform promotes the entire territory: medical programs, aparthotels, glampings, routes, services, baths, restaurants, long trips, stress, RDT, wellness, family programs and corporate runs.
Then everyone wins. The aparthotel gets guests. The health center gets patients. The glamping gets loaded. The restaurant gets stream. The tour company gets orders. Investors get more steady returns. The land goes up in value.
International marketing should be a common function of the cluster, not the task of each object separately, which is especially important for Altai, because a foreign tourist needs to sell not one room, but a clear system of stay: how to fly, who will meet, where to live, what to do, how to treat, who transfers, where to go on routes and how to ensure safety.
18.Public-private logic of development
A resort cluster cannot be a private project in isolation from the territory: roads, electricity, communications, water, urban planning documents, security, personnel training, promotion of the region, tourist navigation and clear land use rules.
The state should not build the entire resort on a budget. It is a business task, but the state and the municipality must create the conditions without which a large resort area cannot develop: infrastructure, territorial planning, tourism support, removal of administrative barriers, training, alignment with regional strategy.
The private sector brings capital, speed, management, service and product, and the public side creates rules, infrastructure and long-term sustainability, and that is the logic of public-private interaction that is important for the Altai Republic.
For Altai, it is particularly important that private projects not be perceived as point-of-sale development for the profit of one owner, but rather as territorial development: jobs, taxes, international tourism, support for local entrepreneurs, growth of service, development of routes, increase in land value and creation of new resort centers.
Typical conflicts and how to prevent them
The first conflict is between the landlord and the developer: the owner wants more expensive and faster, the developer wants cheaper and more flexible. Solution: step-by-step entry model, fixed obligations, clear timelines, participation in the growth of value and responsibility for freezing the site.
The second conflict is between the developer and the management company: the developer wants a beautiful and sellable facility, the UK wants a convenient operation and low costs, the solution is to connect the MC before design, not after construction.
The third conflict is between the unit investor and the MC. The investor expects returns, the CC withholds costs and commissions, and the solution is: transparent income formula, monthly reporting, repair fund, audit right and pre-registered payment model.
The fourth conflict is between the medical core and entertainment services: medicine needs silence, mode and security; active tourism needs movement, emotion and sometimes noise; the solution is competent zoning and different scenarios of stay.
The fifth conflict is between service operators: Restaurant, bath, tours, rental and medical programs will compete for guests and revenue, solution: unified booking system, connection rules, commissions, standards and coordination of the stay program.
The sixth conflict is short-term profit and long-term capitalization: a quick sale of land or a cheap development can make money today, but reduce the value of the entire territory tomorrow: master plan, architectural code, building control and strategic zone preservation.
The seventh conflict is between the tourist flow and the local environment, where if a project overloads roads, nature, water, the garbage system and the local population, resistance will grow, and the solution is to take into account the territory, environmental constraints, local entrepreneurs, employment and infrastructure.
20 Partner Model Documents
A serious resort cluster needs to be documented, verbal arrangements only work until the first conflict, and then everyone starts to interpret them in their favor.
You need a master plan of the territory. You need a financial model. You need a building code and an architectural code. You need a landowner-developer agreement. You need a management contract. You need a contract with a medical operator. You need a service operator connection policy. You need a unit sales model. You need a unit management contract. You need a charter of project companies. You need shareholder agreements. You need investment memorandums. You need revenue allocation rules. You need an upgrade fund. You need rules for personal use of units. You need a general infrastructure regulation. You need a dispute resolution procedure.
If investors buy shares of a company, they must understand: what the company owns, how profits are formed, who manages what rights the shareholders have, how decisions are made, how information is disclosed, how dividends are paid and how to exit the project.
Documents are not bureaucracy; they are protection of trust and value.
21 How the partner model drives up the value of land and units
The partner model does not increase value by using beautiful words, but by reducing uncertainty. The investor sees not an empty plot, but a system. The developer sees not a risky entry, but a clear territory. The UK sees not a chaotic facility, but a managed room fund. The medical operator sees not a single sanatorium, but a flow of guests from the entire cluster. The service companies see not random customers, but projected demand.
When you have a master plan, the first phase, the medical core, the management company, glamping, services and marketing, the land starts to be valued differently. It's no longer just a natural asset. It becomes the platform of the future resort economy.
Units are getting stronger, too. The investor is not buying a room in a single building, but an object within the system: services, medicine, routes, baths, restaurants, glamping, management, international marketing and territory growth, which increases trust and allows the product to be sold more expensive.
In resort development, the main increase in value arises not from the fact that one building was built, but from the fact that life appeared around it.
22.A practical conclusion for Altai
Altai does not need chaotic construction of separate hotels, tourist centers and glampings, which will quickly lead to competition for the same tourist, reduced profitability, overload of popular areas and visual chaos.
Altai needs partner resort clusters, where the landlord sets the strategy of the territory, the developer builds the facilities to be operated, the management company creates the load and trust of investors, the medical operator forms the year-round reason for arrival, service companies make life on the territory diverse, investors enter through units and project JSCs, the state and the municipality help with infrastructure, documents and conditions of development.
The big takeaway is that the resort cluster grows not from the number of buildings built, but from the quality of the partner system, and if the roles are properly assigned, each participant reinforces the other, and the territory begins to capitalize as a single resort product.
The resort cluster in the Altai Republic cannot be built by a single participant. The landowner gives the territory and the strategy. The developer builds aparthotels, units, hotels and glampings. The management company provides loading, tariffs, service, reporting and payments to investors. The medical operator creates a year-round reason for arrival. Service companies fill the territory with restaurants, baths, routes, rental, excursions and active tourism. Investors enter through the purchase of units or shares of project joint ventures.
A strong model is not built on a chaotic sale of land, but on a master plan, architectural code, building rules, a single management logic and a transparent financial system, and then each facility strengthens the neighboring one: medicine loads accommodation, accommodation creates demand for services, services increase the duration of stay, glamping reveals nature, and the entire territory grows in value.
For Altai, this is a key principle: we need not separate tourist centers, but partner resort clusters, where land, development, management, medicine, services, glamping and investors work as a single ecosystem.