Crimean hotels began to sharply reduce prices

“I would not be in a hurry to call the 2023 season the worst in Crimea,” says Sergey Romashkin. “The situation there is difficult, but by no means deplorable. According to the results of last year, we estimate the drop in tourist flow at 30-35%. Now, in March-April, we see that further decline has stopped for the time being.

Last year, in March-April, in May and even in June, everyone expected that the airport in Simferopol would resume its work. Airlines are rescheduling flights for tourists free of charge. Some tourists postponed the validity of their tickets five times. And, without waiting for the opening of the airport in July, we went to the Crimea in a private car.

This year the situation in terms of transport has not improved, but it is already more certain. Tourists understand that in order to get to the Crimea, one must either travel by train or travel on their own.

We see that already in March there is a slight plus in terms of loading, in relation to March of last year. True, it is only 2%. But this is already a trend. In my opinion, this means that the bottom of the Crimean decline has been passed. And, it is likely that there will be a small “plus”.

– Many tourists are afraid of shelling of the Crimea by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Those people who go to the peninsula are well aware of the difficulties they may face in Crimea. And this situation suits them. Since millions of people will still go, Crimea is a mass destination.

According to various estimates, 6-6.5 million tourists visited the peninsula last year. And the situation was not much better than this year. Therefore, I think that the main events are still ahead. Tourists realized that if you do not hurry, you can wait for good discounts. Last year, for example, Crimean hotels, having discovered in June that there were no tourists in the required number, began to provide vacationers with good discounts.

In July and August, Crimea was almost filled at the level of 2021. That is, Crimea had only two excellent months, but this is not enough for a good season. July and August do not save the season as a whole, since the holiday season in Crimea lasts 120-140 days. Therefore, if this year tourists still start to move early, in May they will massively go to the peninsula, Crimea, in general, can go into a small “plus” relative to the results of 2022.

The good news for tourists is that hotel prices in Crimea are expected to be lower than a year ago and even lower than in 2021. Hotel owners believe that price cuts can attract tourists who care only about price.

Sergei Romashkin recalls that last year, trying to provide tourists with an additional opportunity to get to the resorts, they launched buses from Moscow to Crimea and Anapa.

– Buses to Anapa filled up very well, and those that went to the Crimea – well, nothing. In early July, we were forced to curtail this Crimean program.

It took 23 hours to go to Anapa, and 28 to Crimea. It is possible that these five hours, compared to Anapa, have become critical for tourists.

If you are on a train, you don’t care if you lie on a shelf for 25 hours or 28 hours. But the bus is a different story. It is possible that the limit of the forces of our tourists is 23 hours on the bus, and then they need to “free”. We ended the Crimean program, while the Anapa program, for example, worked until the end of the summer.

– In your opinion, will the forecast come true that hotel prices in the Crimea will be lower than in the Krasnodar Territory by about 30%?

– I guarantee that prices will be 20% lower. If you’re lucky, and you get to some kind of hotel promotion, it may turn out that prices will be lower by 30%.

We analyzed the intersection of audiences and saw that Crimean lovers are such a stable group that rarely changes their place of rest. They believe that only Crimea can be better than Crimea. To be honest, I think so myself. The climate on the peninsula is Mediterranean and steppe. In Crimea, it is much drier than in subtropical Sochi. Accordingly, the heat is tolerated more easily. And in Sochi, for example, due to high humidity, you can’t always dry your swimsuit or towel on the balcony.

I am sure that if it were not for this transport story, the closure of the airport in Simferopol, then, despite our geopolitical problems, Crimea would have attracted almost the same number of tourists as in 2021.

– On the Crimean bridge after the October sabotage, cars are carefully inspected. Many motorists are afraid that they will get stuck in long lines.

– On the Crimean bridge, they promise to expand the inspection zone by the holiday season. At the same time, we understand that driving your own car is history for residents of the European part of the country. Tourists from the same Yekaterinburg are unlikely to go by car to the Crimea. Usually goes to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Lipetsk, Kursk, Kazan …

In 2021, when the Simferopol airport was functioning, the ratio of tourist arrivals to Crimea by plane and by bridge was 50 to 50. Air travel gave half of the tourists to the peninsula.

– Let’s compare the prices of a 10-day vacation in the Crimea and in the Krasnodar Territory.

– Except for the road, a 10-day vacation in Crimea in a 3+ or 4- hotel with three meals a day will cost an average of 35-37 thousand per person. In Sochi – 40-45 thousand.

In the coming days, MK will talk about how the holiday season is expected in the Krasnodar Territory and Abkhazia.