The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022, combined with the introduction of restrictive sanctions, had a strong impact on the mobility of the population, first of all, it concerns tourism. For a significant part of tourists who usually traveled abroad, there was a need to reorient to Russian resorts and other attractions within the country, which requires the active development of various tourism directions: from traditional routes to innovative niche formats (medical, industrial, stalking, etc. tourism). In recent years, tourism in Russia has become the preferred tool for the development of small, including single-industry cities, where it is possible to develop and strengthen the tourism services sector. Using tourism as a development tool is quite expensive. The state subsidizes the formation and improvement of infrastructure, but, in addition to financing, the development of tourism requires specific programs to increase tourist attractiveness. The unrecoverable costs are inevitably significant, and the results are unpredictable. The dilemmas associated with tourism financing are numerous and complex. This is especially true for tourist single-industry towns, which are difficult to fit into the available categories of state funding allocated for Russian single-industry towns (where the goal is to diversify the economy while maintaining employment in the city). The article examines the framework of state and municipal policy, which must be coordinated at all levels of government and provided with regional and federal support. Achieving this goal also requires clarifying the very concept of "tourist single-industry town" and the criteria for its definition.