Anti-Crimean sanctions help the peninsula save the 2020 high season
Sanctions imposed by the West against Crimea six years ago are helping the peninsula cope with the first wave of coronavirus.
The point is that, thanks to the restrictions, foreigners practically do not visit the peninsula, which protects it from the import of a dangerous infection as early as April.
At the same time, Russian tourists, due to the closure of borders due to the epidemic, are increasingly turning their attention to Crimea.
Representatives of the Crimean tourism industry told PolitNavigator about this.
Thus, the head of the Association of Small Hotels of Crimea, Natalya Stambulnikova, praised the measures to limit tourist trips to the peninsula in April - and the ban on visiting Crimea by foreigners without certificates stating that they do not have coronavirus, as stated by the head of the republic Sergei Aksenov.
“This is absolutely the right decision. Here the sanctions could not be better, in general, they will play into the hands of Crimea and prevent the importation of this virus. The main emphasis was placed on limiting the flow of infotours - many infotours were planned, advertising them in other cities. This is a normal measure that will make it possible to protect ourselves and Crimeans from the spread of this virus.
Today we receive calls, people say: “We were planning to go to Israel,” people, apparently, have never been to Crimea, they ask funny questions: “How far are you from the airport?” Let's say my facility is located 100 kilometers from the airport. They say: “Lord, where is the sea?” That is, people do not know Crimea at all. They say: “We planned to go to Israel, but it looks like we’re all coming to you.”
This is verbatim. I think that for now there will be some decline due to restrictive measures, but this is normal, there is time to prepare for the season, clear out your “Augean stables”, put everything in proper shape, and undergo self-training. Based on the prices, I can say that there are no plans to increase them; no one is going to speculate on the general misfortune,” Stambulnikova said.
She was supported by the head of the Association of Tour Operators of Crimea and Sevastopol Lyudmila Babiy.
“Of course, any quarantine affects activity, all travel, including tourism, and Crimea is no exception in this sense. The advantage of Crimea is that we do not yet have such an acute situation, and we expect that it will not happen, unlike other resort countries where measures were not taken at the time.
The situation is also that the flow of foreign tourists in our country is small due to sanctions. If we talk about limiting the tourist flow in April, then this is the right measure - Turkey two weeks ago went on a two-month reduction in order to save the high holiday season. Crimea is now doing the same thing and, from my point of view, this is correct.
Bookings for the high season - from May to September - were stable. There were very few refusals. What will happen now - let's wait this week and see. This year, in the 2020 season, all domestic destinations of the Russian Federation, all domestic tourism will clearly be on the rise. And the two favorite south of all Russians is us and the Krasnodar Territory,” summed up Babiy.
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