The greed of hotels and airlines, which turned their heads in a successful 2016, and the opening of Turkey, today explain the sharp drop in tourist flow to Crimea. But market participants cite another reason: "disposable" customers.
Something clearly went wrong with the holiday season this year: July has begun, and there are few tourists in Crimea. In 2016, the flow of tourists to Crimea increased to 5.6 million tourists compared to 4.6 million in 2015, this year the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksenov expected 6 million tourists. But at the end of May, sales of tour packages to Crimea fell by 30%.
Tour operators estimate the decline in demand for recreation at the peninsula's resorts at the beginning of the season at 20%, hotel owners - at 12%, EADaily reports. At the same time, according to the Ministry of Resorts of Crimea, the total tourist flow at the beginning of the season decreased by only 3.8%. Nevertheless, local bloggers talk about the prospects of reducing the number of tourists by 15% by the end of the year.
Why did the boom in popularity of the Crimean coast end so quickly?
The Minister of Resorts and Tourism of Crimea Sergey Strelbitsky blames the cold May and June for this, but according to statistics, it was sold for June more tours to Crimea than in July, although it has always been the other way around.
Experts from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia associate the incident with the "greed" of hoteliers and air carriers, who raised prices due to the fact that the success of the 2016 season "turned their heads".
Strelbitsky agrees that hotel owners have unreasonably raised prices and therefore "do not deserve tourists." According to the official, a significant part of vacationers refused the services of both tour operators and hotels, and now rents their own housing in the private sector. 48% of tourists go to Crimea without the help of operators, 36% live in private houses and apartments.
An important reason is the opening of Turkey: this year, not only Crimea, but everyone has faced a decline in tourists black sea coast Russia. Search engine data show a decrease in requests for recreation in Crimea or Anapa since December 2016 by 30-35%. Conversely, outbound travel destinations are growing in both sales and search terms.
The cheapest offer in Turkey is 20 thousand rubles in a three-star hotel with a flight and all inclusive, while in Crimea for 20 thousand rubles you can only fly in plus take a taxi ride from Simferopol to Yalta, quotes the words of the general director of the tour operator "Dolphin" Sergei Romashkin.
A tour to a decent hotel for a family (two adults and one child 6 years old) with full board (all inclusive) in Crimea and Anatalya will cost almost the same - 145 thousand rubles. The package includes 14 nights of rest in the first half of August. In Crimea it will be the Yalta-Intourist hotel, in Antalya Grand Park Lara (five stars). However, the Crimean tour package does not include an air ticket, unlike the Turkish one. And this is plus 45 thousand rubles. And that's nothing: in Yalta, vouchers are offered to five-star hotels at a price of 500 to 2.3 million rubles for 14 days of rest.
There is another reason for the decline in tourist traffic - airfare prices.
"Where is it good when it is the same time to fly to Simferopol and Sochi from Moscow, but for some reason the cost of a round trip to Crimea is 2.5-3 thousand rubles higher," said Sergei Strelbitsky.
The search for tickets on Momondo.ru to Simferopol, Sochi and Antalya for the same dates (July 29-August 5) showed that the most cheap ticket round trip to Simferopol will cost 12-15 thousand rubles, in Sochi - 10-12 thousand rubles, and to Antalya - 14-16 thousand rubles.
Perhaps that is why the expectation that the health resorts of the Crimea will be filled by the military and civil servants of the Russian Federation, who are prohibited from traveling abroad, did not come true. Officials and the military do not actually go to Crimea, Kommersant writes.
According to official data, there are only 1% of military personnel among those who had a rest on the peninsula in 2016, and civil servants - 11%. In numbers, this is about 650 thousand tourists. Much more of those for whom foreign countries are closed go to Krasnodar resorts.
Moreover, Russians get to the south in the most conservative ways: there are not so many people flying by their own car or by train, by plane. Here is the answer, why they do not go to Crimea - who wants to pay from 1,700 rubles for a car on a one-way crossing, and then make a detour 200-300 km on expensive gasoline and give the same money for housing, the quality of which leaves much to be desired ?
“Any market that grows that fast then falls quickly. During the Ukrainian period, the peninsula was visited by 1.5-2 million Russians, this was a stable figure. Over the past two years, Crimea has managed to attract 3.5 million new Russian tourists to those 2 million regular customers... Many visited the peninsula for the first time, came out of curiosity, climbed all the sights. However, Crimea has not yet been able to hook these new clients for a long time. The honest marketing base of the peninsula is those 2-2.5 million tourists, ”says Romashkin.
Tourists are conservative.
“If they are used to having a rest in the format of the Turkish" all-inclusive "in a closed territory, then they returned to this this year. The Crimean pyramid both grew and collapsed. Crimea has yet to fight for regular tourists ”- concludes Romashkin.
Tourists are scared off not only by prices, but also by the underdevelopment of infrastructure - from transport to public. “To get from the airport to the place of rest, either you need to pay big money to taxi drivers, or you need to dodge and guess with by public transport, which is very inconvenient and uncomfortable, ”complains a public figure, coordinator of the“ Society of Blue Buckets ”movement Pyotr Shkumatov on his Facebook page.
The beaches also do not always leave positive emotions. “You may see a strange picture: restaurants that do business for holidaymakers throw garbage on the beach. Simply because they know that municipal employees are obliged to take out this garbage from there. But sometimes municipal employees do not cope with this task, and then the garbage lies until the next day. All vacationers can see this, ”Shkumatov notes. The chaotic and barbaric development of the southern coast of Crimea also reduces the tourist value, he adds. One way or another, Crimea will have to solve all these problems if the peninsula wants to consistently earn money on tourists.
About a trip to Crimea in June 2016, which was published in our community "Your Crimea". At the end of the story, a link to the source where you can ask your questions to the author. The trip took place in mid-June and lasted for 10 days. I am giving the author's text without changes.
Because I am not a special fan of while away all the time on the beach with the indispensable attribute of "all inclusive", so I decided to take a ride around the Crimea, as in the places where I had been and so along the unknown paths.
First I chose the well-worn popular route: Vorontsovsky (Prince Vorontsov) and palaces, swallow's Nest(for 300 rubles you can drive directly to it through the local sanatorium) and the Massandra Palace of Emperor Alexander III. If you get up early and have your own car, you can visit everything in one day.
The next day is a respite: lamb barbecue, tasting local wines, howling to the virtuoso playing of the button accordion and guitar by the Korean. Even a German from Potsdam joined us, we happily sang him "Katyusha." (300 rubles per person) visit the ruins of the fortress (founded in the 5-6th century as a Byzantine colony) Chufut-Kale and cave city.
The driver of the unkillable car climbed onto the plateau near the entrance to the fortress, and then we said goodbye to him and decided to return to our parking lot on foot, admiring the views of the gorge, visiting along the way, in addition to the ancient ruins, the cave city and the Orthodox Holy Dormition cave monastery. The panoramas are of course crazy, whoever was there was not sure to visit these epic places. By the evening we returned to Alushta.
Well, then a full day trip (medieval Genoese fortress) with a visit to the village New World(factory of champagne wines from Galitsyn cellars, Tsarskoe beach). On the way back along the serpentine we stopped near the village of Rybachye to swim on a wild beach. As I understand it, Crimeans take tents on weekends and go to rest in these places, i.e. away from the tourist hustle and bustle. Almost all of the parked cars had Crimean license plates, I felt like a "black sheep")).
The number of tourists has decreased several times
In Crimea, according to local "authorities", only half of the beaches are ready for tourists. Entrepreneurs complain: vacationers from Russia are sent to state sanatoriums, while "private traders" are left without earnings. According to opinion polls, only 4% of Russians plan to spend their vacation this summer on the annexed peninsula. Housing and food prices are rising, and the number of tourists is decreasing. How it goes tourist season in Crimea, I found out the site "Segodnya.ua".
You won't be able to make money this summer
According to the "Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of Crimea," 4.5 million people rested on the peninsula last year, and 3.6 million in 2014. At the same time, as the ex-minister of resorts of Crimea Alexander Liev recalls, before the annexation of holidaymakers there were 4 times more. This year, local "authorities" are hoping that the number of tourists will increase. Most of vacationers - Russians, however, judging by the forecasts of sociologists, the citizens of the Russian Federation are not going to go on vacation c.
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What will it be holiday season in Crimea
Only a few regions on the southern coast of Crimea will be able to earn money during the holiday season. At the same time, the Russian authorities are doing everything possible to ensure that Crimeans are left without the traditional summer job.
"On May 9, there were many guests in the city, but it cannot be said that the sanatoriums experienced a rush of demand, and there are no aunts with signs" Shelter by the Sea " what most tourists visit Eastern Crimea passing, heading to rest on South coast... However, things are not brilliant there either. "Tourists came in large numbers to May, yes. But less, much less than last year," said Vitaly Malyshev from Yalta.
The popularity of Crimea for the May holidays is considered to be an indicator of the quality of the upcoming holiday season. Having embraced the first wave, the Crimean authorities erupted in cheerful statements that millions of guests were waiting, promising to set a record for resort attendance. Ukrainian experts believe that there is no reason for optimism: Crimea is still difficult to get to, and Ukrainians, who have always accounted for the lion's share of tourist traffic, will not go there for reasons of security and patriotism. May affect the holiday season and the initiative of Russian lawmakers, who propose to significantly complicate the delivery of housing.
A big difference
Estimates of the number of tourists visiting the peninsula during the long weekend in May vary widely. The Ministry of Resorts of Crimea reported that there were 161.6 thousand of them, this is 23.3% more than in 2015, plus 250 thousand tourists Rosturizm counted in Sevastopol, announcing that the growth was 20%. The department reported that Yalta and Alushta became the most popular resorts in Crimea, they account for about half of the tourist flow.
Former Minister of Resorts and Tourism of the ARC Oleksandr Liev, based on data from the Association of the Hospitality Industry of Ukraine, gives other figures. Crimea was visited by about 35 thousand tourists, almost all of them are Russians, in best years the peninsula received about 200 thousand people in May. He explains this difference by the fact that Russian statistics are based not on economics, but on politics and propaganda. At the same time, there is no reason not to trust the information received from the Association. "She monitors data from open Russian Internet sources about transport links with Crimea, mainly by air and ferry communication, - explains Liev. - Using the methodology of the National Academy of Nature Conservation and Resort Construction, it is possible to determine the share of tourists in the total passenger traffic. In addition, we track the online booking system. In total, about 73 systems are analyzed. This is how we see the volume: how many rooms are rented, how many are booked, where reservations have already been stopped. And we also use data from large tour operators in Crimea. The most objective source for us is direct communication with the owners of accommodation facilities on the peninsula, we are monitoring more than a hundred objects. "
Seven million tourists
Recently, the Russian media disseminated information that Russians increasingly prefer Crimea to rest in other regions. Airline ticket sellers say that due to the rise in prices, the demand for Simferopol flights by independent travelers has decreased by a quarter. Tour operators predict a decrease in demand in organized tourism: Russians will choose Sochi.
The Crimean "authorities" immediately came out with a refutation. Responsible for the tourism sector, "Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean Government" Ruslan Balbek said that these data are unrepresentative and indicate informational stuffing or incompetence. "Speaker of the Crimean Parliament" Vladimir Konstantinov said that Crimea plans to receive up to 7 million tourists this year, breaking the record of recent decades.
Such forecasts cause distrust even among many Crimeans, reminding that a few years ago, when Crimea set records, accepting 6 million people, everything was packed, housing was booked several months in advance. "Now nothing portends a rush of demand," says entrepreneur Yevgeny Volchenko. "The owners of apartments and mini-hotels expect the season to be at the level of last year. Then they officially announced that 4.5 million people rested in Crimea, those who work in sphere, it was suggested to boldly divide it by 2. That is, Crimea received 2–2.5 million, this is felt against the background of 2013, when we touched the real 6 million. sanatoriums are closed, because someone "squeezed" them, and now does not know what to do with them. In the private sector, the search for clients has reoriented to the Internet. Those who quickly orientated themselves to the Russian market and the Internet get some tenants ".
Crimeans hope that this year will be a little better. The Russians are now cut off from Egypt and Turkey, after the devaluation it is more profitable to spend rubles on holidays than dollars, so the demand for domestic tourism... In addition, seasonal housing in Crimea is one and a half times cheaper than in the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory.
Alexander Liev notes that the tourist season in Sevastopol and Yalta suffered the least from the annexation. These two cities shared the main tourist flow during May holidays and will share it throughout the year. “The city of Saki should be separately noted, the mud resorts of which were filled. But the specificity of this resort and its medical profile, as well as the small number of beds make this result not very representative,” says the ex-minister. in Evpatoria and Alushta. Catastrophic situation at the resorts of Kerch, Sudak, Feodosia, Black Sea and Razdolnensky regions. It can be predicted that the 2016 season in Crimea will remain at the level of last year, that is, 1.2-1.5 million tourists. All this will be a mono-stream from Russia. "
His words indirectly confirm the observations of the owner of the boarding house in Primorsky, Vladimir Yarmolenko, who says that there is little demand for Eastern Crimea, although his rooms cost from 300 rubles. (about 115 UAH) per person.
"Hello to the Crimeans"
On the eve of the tourist season, the Crimeans were thrown by Russian lawmakers, who decided to ban accommodation services in apartments. The bill, for which the State Duma voted in the first reading, suggests that if the owner of the apartment wants to provide hotel services, he needs to take her out of the housing stock, register as an entrepreneur and pay taxes. For Crimeans, this is unacceptable, since many residents of coastal cities rent out their homes only for two or three summer months.
“It is curious that no one speaks loudly about this bill, which was nicknamed“ Hello to the Crimeans, ”many people don’t know,” says Volchenko. “When you tell your friends about it, the first reaction is:“ Come on! ” The ban will affect the whole of Russia, so it is actively discussed on the Internet. They say that the law will kill the whole sector - what to do with watch workers, renting housing, students? "
According to the entrepreneur, there have already been attempts in Crimea to bring the income of the private sector out of the shadows. In 2014, they offered to pay for beds without registering a business, but people did not agree to this, since there were no guarantees that at least someone would come to rest, meanwhile, the payment is collected monthly. The apartment owners agreed with the neighbors: if a check came, the vacationers had to be introduced by the owners' friends or relatives. Last year, they took up mini-hotels, the owners of which, according to officials, earned from 20 to 50 thousand rubles a day. (from UAH 7.8 thousand to UAH 19.4 thousand). “That is, even the Crimean officials are far from reality, most of them had much less earnings,” Volchenko says.
He believes that the appearance of the bill is "a continuation of the belt-tightening story." Over the course of the year, at least ten new taxes were introduced in Russia, and yet another initiative of the legislators has become an image of a stormy activity to fill the budget.
