The terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge forced some travelers to abandon trips to the peninsula

Another damage to the Crimean bridge forced some travelers to refuse to travel. The number of cancellations of tours, mainly by car tourists, has tripled compared to the usual level. The overland route proposed by the authorities is considered by many to be risky and uncomfortable. As a result, the number of requests for vacations in Gelendzhik and Anapa increased by one and a half times. The incident will inevitably lead to a general decrease in the tourist flow to Crimea, but market participants have already come to terms with the prospect of missing 1.5-2 million guests this year.

After the incident on the Crimean bridge on July 17, the number of cancellations of tours to the peninsula was three times the average daily, Sergey Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator, told Kommersant. Alean confirms an increase in cancellations, but does not call them massive. Intourist notes that autotourists whose arrivals fell on the next dates are refusing to travel. “There are no cancellations from customers who planned to travel by train,” says company representative Daria Domostroyeva.

In one of the hotel booking systems, they say that they received several hundred additional requests for Crimea and 20-30 cancellation requests, calling their number insignificant.

Ostrovok.ru notes a two-fold increase in booking cancellations in Crimea relative to the average values ​​of the season.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said in the course of his report to Vladimir Putin that both spans of the bridge were damaged, one jumped off the supports (they themselves were not injured). The possibility of partially resuming vehicular traffic along one of the spans is being considered, which will take a day. The head of the Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that it was planned to eliminate the traffic jam at the ferry across the strait by the end of the day, now seven ferries are operating in the direction.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, full-fledged car traffic, even on one side of the bridge, can be launched only by September 15, on the other – in November. Of the railroad spans, he said, one suffered minor damage and would likely not need to be replaced. As a result, train traffic was restored within a few hours after the incident, although the traffic remains behind schedule by one to five hours.

Cars can get to Crimea right now either by ferry (both cars and trucks are transported at 18:00 Moscow time), or bypassing new territories. Cars are pre-stacked in the parking lot and then screened, so waiting times can be significant.

An alternative land route to Crimea runs from Rostov-on-Don through the DPR through the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to the Chongar checkpoint (route P-280 Novorossiya Taganrog-Mariupol-Melitopol-Simferopol). Its length is about 400 km from the checkpoint in the Rostov region to the checkpoint “Dzhankoy”. You can drive, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in five to six hours.

According to the government, following a meeting of the commission to eliminate the consequences of damage to the Crimean bridge, vehicles will be able to pass through checkpoints in the Rostov region “almost without checking documents” so as not to create traffic jams. Transit vehicles traveling along the main route will not be subject to the curfew in force in the regions. Eyewitnesses and Telegram channel “Roof of TourDom” nevertheless, many kilometers of traffic jams are reported in the Kherson region on the E-105 highway to the Crimea in both directions. Traffic jams reach 6 km in some sections against the backdrop of road repairs and partial blocking of lanes.

In conditions of limited air traffic, most of the tourists this year arrive in Crimea by car. Mr. Romashkin believes that an average of 30 thousand people came to the peninsula a day, of which 5-6 thousand came by rail, and 20-25 thousand came through the Crimean bridge. Some of the company’s customers reoriented to an alternative route. “Judging by the reviews, the roadway is in good condition, there are no traffic jams and cameras for fixing violations, and it is possible to pass checkpoints in a few minutes,” he says. Ms. Domostroyeva says that tourists have contacted the company with questions about routes through new territories, “but many are still afraid to go.”

The Google.Maps service estimates the length of the route from the center of Rostov-on-Don to Yalta across the Crimean bridge at 759 km. The way through Mariupol, according to Maps.me, takes 706 km. Sergey Romashkin says that the last option now takes his tourists an average of 7.5 hours, and the journey across the bridge, taking into account traffic jams, took 9-10 hours. Mr. Romashkin doubts that this route will be popular: “People don’t know what condition the road is in, whether there are gas stations, they are afraid to go to an area where mobile communications are not working.”

In Alean, they say that tourists who decide to refuse a trip to Crimea will cancel their trips without fines. This may be a refund, rescheduling of the trip, booking to Anapa, Gelendzhik or other resorts, the company explained.

The number of search requests for accommodation in Anapa and Gelendzhik on July 17 increased by 60% and 70% compared to the usual figures, they say in Ostrovok.ru. Sergei Romashkin notes that many tourists from the side of the bridge in the Krasnodar Territory are still waiting for the development of the situation and are not ready to travel far. “Travelers who knew all the risks are now going to the peninsula,” he emphasizes.

According to the estimates of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), there are 20,000 tourists in Crimea who should leave in the next two to three days. Large hotels, according to Alean, confirmed the possibility of a free extension of stay for one or two days. In Dolphin they say that the situation is solved individually: somewhere hoteliers pay for additional days of accommodation, somewhere tour operators, somewhere they give a big discount, somewhere tourists compensate for food costs. Guests who cannot get to the peninsula are shifted their terms of stay. Tourists who have already left the hotels or cannot extend their stay have the opportunity to use temporary accommodation points, Alean explained.

According to Dolphin, the number of new bookings for tours to the Crimea on July 17 decreased by 50% compared to the previous week. The incoming applications assumed arrival in mid-August and later. In Alean, they are talking about the restoration of previously canceled reservations within a day and about new sales with arrivals from next week to September. Future sales will depend on the timing and progress of restoration work, Alean noted. Intourist reported that so far “sales have stalled”, and tomorrow’s market conditions “will depend on the presence or absence of positive news.”

Sergei Romashkin believes that in the short term, the organization of reverse traffic can solve the problem – one crossing is unlikely to be enough. According to the top manager, every day the bridge is closed costs Crimea several tens of thousands of tourists. But, according to his forecasts, the flow this year would have been lower than last year by 1.5-2 million people, and this figure will not change significantly.

Alexandra Mertsalova