Is the flow of tourists to Crimea increasing?
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Russians are actively booking tours to Crimea. Kommersant FM found out that in January-February they bought twice as many trips to the peninsula as in the same period in 2023. Roughly 85% of travelers plan to visit between May and August, although some tour operators are reporting customer interest for autumn dates.
Interest in Crimea is explained by the fact that holidays there are much cheaper than at resorts in the Krasnodar Territory, explained Sergei Romashkin, vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia: “Demand is about twice as high as last year’s result, if we take the period from approximately January 1 to February, 15. This fits into the general trend of growing bookings for the entire Russian south, including Sochi and Anapa.
What is surprising to us is not that Crimea is booked in large volumes, but that for some reason consumers decided to take their summer vacation in January and early February.
Usually, after the May holidays, tourists decided to purchase vouchers for this period. Either this is such amazing consumer optimism, or people somehow want to invest in their future vacation or, perhaps, they are afraid of rising prices. In any case, all our Black Sea resorts show year-on-year growth of 50-100%. But on average we don’t expect such eye-popping results. I think that an increase of 15-20% is quite realistic.
At the same time, Crimea, unlike the Krasnodar Territory, has raised prices very modestly, literally by 4-5%, and the average cost of a vacation is about 3 thousand rubles. per day. The average duration is about ten days. Accordingly, a tourist in a three-star hotel will spend about 28-30 thousand rubles. I don’t think that even in some of the best periods hotels will try to raise prices above 10%. Therefore, Crimea is a good buy; it is cheaper than, say, neighboring Anapa, by 15 percent.
If we talk about the most popular locations, then traditionally Yalta accounts for about half of all bookings. In second place, probably, is eastern Crimea, places like Koktebel, Feodosia, Sudak – about 30 percent. And 20% is the western coast of Crimea, from Evpatoria to Sevastopol.”
Due to logistics problems, according to official data, last year the flow of vacationers to the peninsula decreased by 20%. For example, after the attack on the Crimean Bridge in July 2023, some tourists turned their cars around halfway and abandoned their vacation plans. Now, in order to attract customers, Crimean hotels are actively offering various promotions at the early booking stage. According to the Multitour company, depending on the room category and arrival date, the discount can reach up to 40%.
“Kommersant FM” contacted Crimean hoteliers and found out how actively tourists are booking rooms for the summer. Most interlocutors reported that they do not observe increased demand.
Owner of the guest house in Yalta Alexander Slepinin: “For now, we only have reservations from people who have been coming to me for seven years in a row, they are already like family. There are no orders on either Sutochno.ru or Avito. In recent years, there have been no guests, either because of COVID-19 or because of the SVO. People are afraid to make reservations, and rightly so. Prices haven’t been raised for probably six years now. Last year the price was three times lower than in Sochi. There people stood on top of each other, but Crimea was empty. I think this year will be the same. Why should it be any different? Something has changed?”
General Director of Mriya Resort & SPA Samvel Sarukhanyan: “We feel positive dynamics. We’re booked all summer. Currently, the occupancy rate for August is approximately 60%. In addition, this year we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the resort, and there is a lot of excitement. People book based on when train tickets become available, which is 90 days in advance. I think that, relatively speaking, August will be sold out in May.”
Manager of the Sea Extravaganza hotel complex in Sevastopol Maxim Bazurin: “I don’t know who has this height and where they get these statistics from. I communicate with tour operators, ordinary intermediaries, who load my hotel quite a lot at normal times – they all have the same picture, there are practically no calls. In better times, I would already have to turn away guests now, because the summer would be busy.”
Earlier, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported that, according to forecasts, the most popular destination for summer holidays in the country, as last year, will be the Krasnodar Territory. In second place is Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg. Crimea, as ATOR expects, will become the fourth.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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