Crimea was hit by “Black Friday”: New Year holidays on the peninsula fell sharply in price

Crimean hotels are reporting “Black Friday” for the New Year holidays – a drop in prices by 20-30% or even more. The goal is to at least partially restore the catastrophically fallen demand. We found out the reasons for this step, and compared the fallen Crimean prices with prices in other southern regions of the Russian Federation, as well as other popular destinations among Russians this New Year.

Initially, hotels on the peninsula announced their “price drop” themselves – through online booking aggregators. And today their impressive discounts are confirmed by tour operators specializing in domestic holidays.

“Low season, and to it insecurity in terms of terrorist attacks, plus the cancellation of New Year’s events,” says Liliya, manager for Crimea of ​​a capital travel agency, citing the reasons for discounts in Crimean hotels. – In such circumstances, people with children will not go, and the children’s holidays are a priority.

The same reasons for refusing a New Year’s trip to Crimea are cited by the majority of respondents, and many were turned off by the cancellation of all mass New Year’s events. The Crimean leader Sergei Aksenov announced it in his telegram channel in mid-November, at the same time recalling that in a number of regions of the peninsula and at important facilities the “yellow” level of terrorist threat is still in effect: “In the Republic of Crimea, large public events are being held in New Year and Christmas celebrations are not planned. The main priority is safety.” Then, however, the leader of Crimea sweetened the pill, adding that “the authorities of the republic will do everything necessary to create a festive mood for Crimeans.” Namely, as before, they will install New Year trees in populated areas, decorate the streets, and hold New Year holidays for children in an intimate, limited format.

“Our children’s New Year’s lights will be held in small groups, no more than 10 people,” explains Vita, the mother of a second-grader from Sudak. – With the principle of division by school classes, kindergarten groups or neighborhoods. And without advertising, so as not to attract the attention of those who could ruin the holiday. That is, children of tourists will not be allowed to attend such a holiday for safety reasons.

– But this is a child!

– Yes, but unknown adults will bring him. On December 28, tenants are coming to see me, a family with twin second-graders. I found out if it was possible to bring them to our holiday, because there will be no mass children’s “Christmas trees” in public places this year. And it turns out that the children of tourists don’t have any New Year’s fairy tales during the holidays at all! I convinced our class teacher that I had known my guests for several years. But the school replied: sorry, but it’s not possible.

Given the absence of a “New Year’s fairy tale,” Russians are not impressed even by the unprecedented scale of the price drop: 2024 in hotels in Yalta, Alushta and Sudak can be found for only 6 thousand rubles per day per room. I called the hotel, which a year ago on New Year’s dates cost three times as much – 18 thousand per day for a double room.

“It’s not a joke,” they sadly answer my question. – What should we do, we’re standing empty. Not just us. Last year’s prices are maintained only by the giants of the southern coast like Mriya in Simeiz, where there are still rooms for 280 thousand rubles. per day. But they have their own contingent.

– What kind of New Year is this in silence? – 46-year-old Andrey, the head of a family from Moscow with two schoolchildren, explains the cancellation of his reservation. – No fireworks, no music and dancing, no children’s carnivals and performances! We’ll sit quietly at home.

We check with aggregators: indeed, previously popular hotels with fellow citizens with accommodation in separate family-type villas with 3-star comfort and service last year, even in the low season, cost from 7 thousand rubles per day, and during the New Year holidays from 12 thousand rubles per day house. And this year right now – in the last ten days of November – such a two-room villa costs less than 3 thousand rubles per family. And only on the night from December 31 to January 1 will it rise to 6 thousand rubles. The same thing with the famous – one of the oldest and steeped in history – Yalta hotel: now 4675 rubles per day, on New Year’s Eve 10300 rubles. And it’s hard to even believe that a year ago on New Year’s Eve the price for a room exceeded 15 thousand rubles. And the Crimean private sector, including guesthouses and apartments, has completely fallen to 3-4 thousand rubles per day (versus last year’s 5-10).

“This year in Crimea from December 30 to January 7 it is 30% cheaper than last year,” admits a leading tour operator. – And there are about the same number of fewer applicants. For example, a formerly popular hotel in Sudak near the fortress with children’s animation and wine tasting fell by half compared to last year’s 44 thousand rubles per room from December 28 to January 7, but there are not many takers. Only sanatoriums on the southern coast are at 60-80% of last year’s numbers for this New Year. Together with three meals a day and treatment, a year ago they cost from 80 thousand rubles per day per room, but this year it’s only 20-25 thousand rubles.

But Russians do not want to celebrate the New Year “quietly” in Crimea, while other destinations suitable for the New Year holidays are significantly more expensive, competing in prices not with the peninsula, but with world capitals and resorts.

During the New Year holidays, one night in Gelendzhik and Sochi starts from 15 thousand rubles for a double room, depending on the level of the establishment, which is comparable in cost only to the New Year prices of hotels in Dubai. And even in a starless guesthouse in the village of Golubitskaya on the Azov Sea with the charming name “Magadan,” accommodation for two adults from December 29 to January 4 will cost from 51 thousand rubles. The average cost of one night for the New Year holidays in cities without sea, but with history starts from 7 thousand (double room in 3 stars in Moscow from 7.2 thousand rubles per night, in St. Petersburg from 6.6 to 7, 6 thousand rubles, in Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod from 9.5 thousand rubles. For comparison: the “average” night on the Thai island of Phuket is 14 thousand rubles, in the Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh 10-15 thousand rubles, in winter Turkey 17.8 thousand rubles..