Tourists examined Abkhazia – Kommersant FM

Russians are actively buying tours to Abkhazia for the New Year holidays; demand has increased several times compared to November 2022. This is the first time such a rush has been observed, according to the Association of Tour Operators. Some market participants report that more than 70% of rooms in popular hotels are already booked. At the same time, there is no ski resort in the region, and the average monthly water temperature in the Black Sea does not exceed 10 degrees.

Why did Abkhazia become a bestseller for the New Year? Vice-President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies Aleksan Mkrtchyan explains this by the successful pricing policy of local hoteliers and logistics: “Market players here continue to adhere to the policy of “minus 30% from Sochi.”

A room in a four-star hotel, which in Sochi costs 10 thousand rubles for the New Year. per day, in Abkhazia it will cost a maximum of 7 thousand rubles, or even cheaper. The same goes for food. Alcohol prices are also almost two times lower.

All this is really interesting to many Russian families; the savings on living expenses amount to 30-50 thousand rubles. in 10 days. Therefore, we note a fairly high demand for Abkhazia.

Meanwhile, it is much warmer here than in Novorossiysk or Anapa, where even palm trees do not grow. And here there will be not only palm trees, but also tangerines, and three times cheaper than, say, in Moscow. That is, people just go to change the picture.

And let’s not forget that no other Russian seaside resort, except Sochi, has an airport. The same Abkhazian Gagra is much closer to the airport in Adler than, for example, the Russian Lazarevskoye.

At the same time, of course, I have difficulty remembering hotels in Abkhazia of the Sochi “five” level. But most tourists go not to 5 “stars”, but to 3-4, and here Abkhaz hoteliers compete on equal terms, if not get ahead.”

According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, a trip to Abkhazia for five nights, including New Year’s, with accommodation in a four-star hotel will cost approximately 110-120 thousand rubles. for two. But it is not yet possible to count on the service to which guests of similar Sochi hotels are accustomed, noted Andrey Shemyakin, managing partner of the consulting company SEA Company:

“This is, in a good way, the remaining legacy of Soviet sanatoriums, many of which have indeed been preserved in very good condition. But we must understand that this is the last century. Holidays in Abkhazia can be compared with both Anapa and Crimea, if you do not take into account the new hotels built there. You can definitely compare it with Gelendzhik, if you don’t talk about Metropol or the Primorye Grand Hotel.

All accommodation facilities in Abkhazia are maintained at a certain level, but you should, for example, take it easier on super-washed bed linen and not count on any additional service, which is usually provided in modern hotels by default, even in three-star ones.

That is, you should go to Abkhazia in order to see nature. The region is not designed for any specific level of service.

But I’m sure many people who for some reason are nostalgic for the Soviet Union will have a great time there.”

At the same time, there are currently no 5-star hotels in Abkhazia, but there are several projects; a complex with such a hotel called “Moscow Resort” is currently being built in Pitsunda. In the summer of 2023, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, during a visit to Abkhazia, said that this is one of the facilities in the region that is being built with financial support from Russia. The total budget of the complex is estimated at 31 billion rubles, the opening of the hotel is scheduled for 2026.

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Petr Shadrin