Despite the losses suffered by tour operators, experts believe that the total tourist flow from Russia to Crimea may well reach last year's results.
Once Crimea and Sevastopol acceded to Russia, our tourists' interest in this region was rekindled, particularly among young people, who have never been to Crimea and hence are unfamiliar with the region.
The airlines that are going to participate in the ‘Crimean’ subsidizing program have already given to understand that the planned tariffs and subsidies were not enough to make the economics of flights profitable, or at least for them to break even. Oleg Panteleev, Head of Aviaport’s analytical service, told TRN about it while commenting on the topic.
The Rosaviatsiya Federal Air Transport Agency has authorized airlines Ak Bars Aero, Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise, Nordavia, Red Wings, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, Yakutia Airlines and Yamal Airlines to perform subsidized flights to the Republic of Crimea.
According to Deputy Russian Ministry of Culture Alla Manilova, who said it during the conference ‘Government Support for Small Hotels and Small Businesses in Tourism’
First visitors are expected to come on Victory Day, which is going to be celebrated on quite a great scale here this year, and then more tourists are expected at the celebration of Navy Day and at various festivals.
Local travel companies have prepared a variety of tours for travelers. Crimea’s Resorts and Tourism Ministry is still at work compiling a catalogue of tourism products of 2014, which will include tour operators’ offers and a list of tourist sites with a detailed description of hotels, health resorts and children’s facilities of the region.
Situation is complicated with the Crimean destination. On the one hand, hotels and health resorts of the peninsula are ready for tourists, and Russian tourists themselves are ready and willing to go to Crimea. The only problem – the issue of carriage remains unresolved. Most Russians used to travel to Crimea by train, but now many fear using railroads due to the volatile situation in Ukraine. Russian authorities are hard at work trying to set up some safe and cheap way by which to transport tourists. The success of the tourist season in Crimea hinges on how fast this way will be found. TRN magazine spoke to a number of experts in order to get the full picture.
The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) has published draft regulations for state funding of airlines aimed at making flights to Simferopol and back more affordable
Now Aeroflot’s minimal ticket price for a flight from Moscow to Crimea’s capital is 7.5 thousand rubles. The carrier will provide up to 8 flights a day in summer. Flights from St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don to Simferopol also saw price reduction.