The Crimean tourism industry is wondering how to survive while waiting for the season
Hotel bookings in Sevastopol for the May holidays decreased to 25%, in Crimea - to 40%.
The reason is the lack of air traffic and a shortage of train tickets, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Vice-Governor of Sevastopol Maria Litovko notes that compared to last year, the occupancy for the May holidays has dropped significantly - from 90% to 25%. The cancellation of bookings continues, as tourists cannot receive money when returning tickets for canceled flights until the Federal Air Transport Agency officially extends the “closed skies” regime. People simply do not have time to buy a train ticket on these same dates.
“It seems to me that everyone will make decisions this week,” retorted Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev. “We’ll get the download as usual, to be honest.”
Indeed, the planning horizon for tourist trips has decreased significantly. Since the beginning of coronavirus restrictions, travelers, experienced in the experience of frozen refunds for tickets and vouchers, began to book hotels and buy tickets before the trip itself. According to information from booking services, the market share of Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory remained unchanged for the May holidays - about 25% of the total tourist flow. Tourists buy bus and train tickets if we are talking about trips of no more than a day. Long-distance destinations will await the resumption of air travel.
The drop in hotel bookings is due to rising prices and a decrease in purchasing power. The increase in the cost of hotel business services is 15-20%, and hoteliers are simply unable to remain in the same price range. For their part, tourists are looking for a more budget-friendly holiday and are choosing the sector of guest houses and rental housing with the opportunity to cook their own food.
“There is a decline in revenue both in the restaurant business and in retail trade and transport,” Ilya Pesternikov, Commissioner for the Rights of Entrepreneurs in Sevastopol, said on NTS. – The downturn will affect everyone, and we need accessible financial instruments for working capital. Entrepreneurs are asking to repeat the practice of coronavirus support measures of paying 1 minimum wage per employee in order to retain staff until the high season.”
For the high season to take place, the issue of delivering tourists to the peninsula needs to be resolved. It is difficult to count on the growth of guests with personal vehicles without the provision of parking lots and parking lots. It is possible to make a single ticket with a flight to Sochi and a transfer to a bus, but in the summer the resort airport is already overloaded. Negotiations are currently underway on the opening of one of the airports in the Krasnodar Territory in order to relieve congestion at the transport air hub in Sochi and make the route to Crimea shorter.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.