188 Chapter 5
spurred the development of kurort-cities with the same sea and mountain ame-
nities offered by central Sochi while reducing congestion in the main part of
the city.^51 It also immediately extended the cachet of a Sochi vacation to a much
larger group of consumers.
In theory, the putevka allocation system regulated both timing and desti-
nation. Central kurort offi cials calculated the capacities of the various resorts
and distributed the appropriate number of putevki to various trade unions
and other offi ces so that every place would be fully utilized. This system
presumed a perfect fl ow of information about resources. In practice, agencies
that controlled their own sanatoria and rest homes restricted access by un-
derreporting the availability of spaces so that they would always have some
to spare if especially deserving people needed a room.^52 Other health places,
concerned about the penalties they would incur if they did not fi ll all their
rooms, overbooked their spaces to guard against vacationers who failed to
show up, arrived late, or had to be sent home because their medical condi-
tions did not warrant treatment at that particular place. When the health
spas guessed wrong, which frequently happened in the summer, vacationers
could fi nd themselves lodged in doctors’ offi ces and in corridors because
there were not enough rooms for all those with legitimate putevki. In the
winter, however, putevki often remained unused; rest homes and sanatoria
operated at a loss because vacationers chose not to come.^53
Very much aware of the gap between the desire of citizens to vacation in sum-
mer and the availability of places, kurort offi cials responded to the economic
challenges in a number of ways. Increasing investment in kurort facilities—
whether to expand in traditional or new areas or to upgrade existing facilities—
dominated discussions in the Kurort Administration from the 1940s until the
last days of the Soviet Union. But where would these investment funds come
from in an economy that also faced agricultural shortfalls and growing needs to
invest in science, technology, and other kinds of consumer goods? Individual
enterprises and agencies possessed reserves of discretionary funds to spend on
improving living conditions for their employees, including building apartments
and subsidizing vacations. In March 1960 the Communist Party Central Com-
mittee and the USSR Council of Ministers directed that the administration of
all health resorts and rest homes would immediately pass from the Ministry of
Health to the Central Trade Union Council. Individual enterprises that had built
their own health places were required to turn them over to the central council,
but they would retain the right to use 75 percent of the putevki for those facili-
ties. These incentives encouraged agencies and enterprises to continue to invest
their own enterprise funds in building new facilities.^54- Azar, Otdykh , 53; GARF, f. 9493, op. 8, d. 1669, l. 198; d. 2303, l. 43; d. 227, ll. 91–92;
d. 326, l. 276; LG , 3 February 1962, 4. - V. I. Azar, Ekonomika i organizatsiia turizma (Metodologicheskie voprosy) (Moscow,
1972), 35. - GARF, f. 9493, op. 8, d. 428, l. 68; d. 227, ll. 35–37; d. 2303, l. 61; Trud , 20 August
1966; 4 July 1973. - GARF, f. 9493, op. 8, d. 4, ll. 10–15. On “private” health places, Trud , 24 April 1960.