The number of tourists in Crimea has not decreased after the arrival of missiles

Yelena Petrova, Natalia Seibil

The founder of the tourist company «Laspi» in Sevastopol Elena Bazhenova told «NI» that the missile attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the base of the Black Sea Fleet and the shipyard in the city did not affect the plans of Russian tourists who rest in Crimea in the velvet season:

— There were no cancellations today, and it's already three o'clock in the afternoon.

Representatives of the Crimean tourism industry say that there were no refusals from those tourists who arrived in August and September. If they were, it was not because of shelling or drone attacks, but for completely trivial reasons: someone got sick and could not come, or a person had some other force majeure circumstances.

It's not crowded in Sevastopol right now

Sergey Romashkin, vice-president of ATOR, General director of the Dolphin travel company, says that although there are few tourists in Sevastopol itself, the flow is quite steady. People have already realized that proximity to the military does not bode well for vacationers, so true lovers of the city and its surroundings come here on vacation:

— There are just objectively few tourists in Sevastopol, and we don't see any serious dynamics here either. I think that the attack will not affect in any way, because, let's face it, there have been quite unpleasant events over the summer, but, nevertheless, the flow, in principle, is quite stable.

ATOR cannot say for sure how many people came to rest Crimea in this stormy, in all respects, summer. Since the beginning of the year, there have been a quarter fewer tourists on the peninsula.

Who goes on vacation in Crimea and where

Nominally, Sevastopol is considered a resort city, but recently tourists have been traveling to the Southern and Eastern shores of the Crimea, and therefore neither in Alushta, neither in There are no changes in the tourist flow in Feodosia or Sudak — everyone who is still going to Crimea, trying to stay here.

Elena Bazhenova also notes that the number of tourists has decreased, especially from the capitals and central Russia.:

— The flow of tourists has decreased, but residents of nearby regions have arrived — the Rostov region, from the Krasnodar Territory, as prices have fallen.

The price reduction is also confirmed by Sergey Romashkin: for 10 days of rest, tourists pay 25-30 thousand rubles for a 4-star hotel with breakfast. Compared to last year, the decrease was 15%.

A large influx of vacationers is no longer expected here — everyone who wanted to buy a ticket in September has already bought it. Experts say that 600-700 thousand people will still come to the peninsula.

Crimea was and remains the number two destination of domestic tourism. Despite the daily drone attacks, the number of tourists remains at a fairly high level. So this year 4.5 — 4.8 million people could relax here.

Although tourism pros admit that they cannot buy tickets to Moscow before October 1, and if they are lucky enough to catch them, it is a great success, but this is a seasonal disease, and not like crowds of anxious citizens who do not want to voluntarily put their lives in unnecessary danger.

Warm sea, sunny days and arrivals every day

It is difficult to penetrate a Russian tourist with drones and even missiles. It seems that people have come to terms with the idea that a drone can catch them anywhere, anytime.

— Drones are falling and in Moscow, you might think, people have stopped coming to it. Therefore, we are quietly going to Crimea is no scarier here than in the capital, — writes Nikolay Serenkov.

Hoteliers and travel agencies recognize that transport and security are the two main problems of Crimea, and tourists themselves do not care.

— Yes, for two weeks in For 6-7 days in Crimea, drones flew in different places of the peninsula, some were shot down, some reached their goal. But all this happened very, very far from the southern coast of the peninsula. Here the beaches are full of vacationers, you walk along the embankment — you can bump elbows, resort life is boiling, the population is relaxed… — blogger Ulyana writes from Gurzuf.

But there are other opinions. The guest writes:

I wouldn't go for anything and I won't go, why take this risk? In Siberia, the summer was no worse, and safer.

The participants of the Crimean Bridge chat, who have been stuck in traffic jams in both directions for several hours after today's attacks, exchange opinions. Evgeny thinks:

— The last time we arrived, it's impossible to drive like this. Just do not forget that not all of your neighbors work on the mainland, some live at the expense of tourists, if there are no tourists, it is unlikely that you will Crimea will be very good, I understand everything, the situation is like this, security, etc., but then everything should be organized normally, and the traffic police should work normally and deploy those who climb without a queue, and not smoke bamboo, and so to all figs, and you, tourists, go, take money to Crimea, and nobody cares about your problems.

And one more remark in the chat:

— To be honest, I don't understand these people either. who are going to the Crimea. It is necessary to want the Crimean baklava so much that you would risk yourself, children to come here!