Ferry freeloaders: the Turks complained that the Russians live with them for free

In November, a ferry service will open between Novorossiysk and Turkey, which will significantly expand the opportunities for a Russian tourist, because now he will be able to get to Turkish resorts even on his own car, having boarded the ferry with him. And if there is no desire to steer for a long time, then you can enjoy a boat trip, reaching the port and from it by public transport. The Turkish side, however, is in no hurry to rejoice.

Prices for the new type of travel have not yet been indicated, but if we take the existing ferry from Sochi to Trabzon as a guideline, then it is dozens of times cheaper than an airplane: an adult ticket is 2800 rubles, a child ticket (from 5 to 7 years old) is 1700 rubles, children under 7 years old is free. Prices for the Novorossiysk ferry are only in the draft so far: it is only known that an adult ticket (with accommodation in a four-seater cabin) costs $150, and a passenger car with a driver costs $400. The benefit, as they say, is obvious.

According to the Turkish press, the ferry service between the south of Russia and their country pleases businessmen first of all, as it is a trade route in both directions “with great potential.” But tourism businessmen are even somewhat embarrassed by the new type of logistics.

– You see, the Russians already fill our resorts, living practically for free, – the co-owner of a hotel chain in the Kemer region shares on condition of anonymity. – I mean long-term tourists who live either in their own housing or rent from private owners. There is no income from them for the tourism sector. Well, except for a one-time investment when buying a home, whoever has it. And now they will also arrive by ferry twice a week from Russia on their own, probably to private apartments. And the ferry twice a week is a lot of people.

– And we say that not poor Russians gathered there. They probably go to restaurants, to clubs, to shops.

– It’s all a drop in the bucket compared to the mass arrivals at hotels on package tours. And, by the way, in stores everything is also bought up only by those who come for a week or two. And if a Russian visits us for a long time, he behaves more economically than the locals.

At the official level, of course, this is not directly stated, but the Turkish press slips a sigh of relief from the fact that partial mobilization has ended in the Russian Federation.

– We can no longer cope with the rounds of apartments, – they share in the Antalya police station. – Why? To take into account the number of foreigners in our territory and understand the prospects. The resort infrastructure is loaded with people who are not vacationers – this is not right.

Before the Russian events, everything was clear for us. The resort has vacationers, and local residents and businesses work to serve guests. There were emigrants permanently residing in the resort area before. But at the expense of the Russians, there are more of them – both than locals and vacationers. Although we have not yet been able to get a reliable number of Russians who are not on tour in Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Turkish tourism industry, expecting at the same time the arrival of European pensioners for the winter, who have shown themselves to be extremely economical and even tight-fisted, is thinking about how to get rid of such “freeloaders”.

“Some hotels sold tours of 28 and 45 days to the British and Germans for symbolic money,” says the owner of a hotel in Side. “Most of the people who came here are the elderly, who no longer need to work, and they are afraid that in winter their entire pension will be spent on heating. And now the owners are shocked.

These grandparents don’t just save money, they cook right in the rooms out of greed! And this is both a smell and a fire hazard, someone must constantly be on duty on the floor, all of a sudden some granny decides to cook sausages at night, and she herself falls asleep. Such a case has already been with an elderly German woman. And after all you will not expel them – it is paid. And you won’t yell – we respect the elderly. And they tell us: what’s wrong, we need to survive the global energy crisis. We don’t need it, do we?

But at the official level, they still came up with a way to get twice as much from tourists – this is sports tourism. It is estimated that the sports tourist brings twice as much income to the industry as the average beach goer. In addition, as the Turkish press notes, “sports tourism is showing double-digit growth today” all over the world.

– These are those who come to our country for hiking, sailing regattas or competitions in any sport – football, golf, etc., – answers the question, who is a “sports tourist”, a Russian-speaking guide from Antalya. – And he comes both to participate and as a fan. Where there are competitions, there are support groups, and this is income. It was a very profitable topic, for example, when tourists from all over the world were offered to swim across the Bosphorus. There was a sea of ​​people who wanted to, and they came not alone, but with relatives, with coaches, with friends, and a huge number of simply curious people gathered. But, alas, now is not a very good time to swim across the Bosphorus.

However, the Turks cannot get rid of us so easily, we are just arriving. According to the domestic tourism industry, this year, for the first time in many years, Turkey has bypassed Egypt, the traditional leader, in terms of the number of bookings for the New Year. Despite the fact that in comparison with last year, prices for New Year’s holidays on the Turkish Riviera increased by 70%. Even short tours to Istanbul are snapped up so that the tour operator specializing in them had to ask permission to fly planes there not 5, but 8 times a week.