Sevastopol breaks records: How Russian tourists rub their noses in Kyiv

Sevastopol is breaking records this holiday season. Already in June, the occupancy rate of Sevastopol hotels and recreation centers exceeded 70%, Governor Sergei Menyailo said at the economic forum in St. Petersburg. This figure is much higher than for the rest of Crimea.

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By the way, for those who are interested, at the beginning of this week I participated in the NTV program “Meeting Place”, dedicated to holidays on the peninsula. So, one of the high Crimean officials announced the following figure: this season at least 7 million people will visit Crimea, 400 thousand of which are Ukrainians; this figure was determined based on the number of reserved and purchased places in hotels, sanatoriums and recreation centers. Impressive!

All the officials with whom I spoke indicate that, against this background, Sevastopol has one of the best indicators. What explains this? Why did Sevastopol, standing away from the South Coast, become such an attractive place to relax?

First of all, this is a tribute to the Crimean Spring, the memory of which is still relevant. The Crimean spring made Sevastopol the most popular, most fashionable city in Crimea, where you can combine a comfortable holiday (sea, beach, restaurants and a good hotel) with a heroic patriotic myth, a beautiful cityscape and an interesting historical landscape.

In general, patriotism and relaxation in one bottle: the sea, and a panorama with a diorama, and the beach, and one of the coolest and most advanced Russian museums dedicated to the Crimean War, and the romantic White City, and the formation of warships. Sevastopol is both the sun and the beautiful white and blue St. Andrew's flag over the city. In general, the children gained both health and patriotism. Therefore, a vacation in Sevastopol is a vacation with meaning. That is why the most advanced people from all over Russia come to Sevastopol. Holidays in Sevastopol are a holiday for intellectuals.

The second reason: Sevastopol is slowly becoming the cultural capital of Crimea. This year, an interesting project “Assembly Point” was launched, within the framework of which concerts, meetings with musicians, directors and actors, writers’ forums, etc. are held several times a month in Sevastopol.

I think that Sevastopol should not stop there. We must set the bar higher: next season, the city leadership should invite prominent representatives of the Western cultural alternative to give lectures that would be of interest to Russian intellectuals: American professor Noam Chomsky, who consistently criticizes American and Western imperialism in general.

Or why not invite the best Turkish writer, Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk? Moreover, in the latter case, it would be possible to arrange a platform in Sevastopol where Turkish and Armenian cultural figures could meet. In this case, Sevastopol could become the city where the reconciliation of Turks and Armenians began.

It’s a pity that it’s no longer possible to invite Trump. But next year you can invite those English politicians who were in favor of Brexit, and the Scottish and Catalan “separatists”. Sevastopol, given its role as the instigator of the Russian Spring, should become the headquarters of a world political alternative.

The most beautiful center and the most beautiful long city embankment with curves and bays. They are generally the best in Crimea. It would be nice to come up with some kind of feature for the Northern side of Sevastopol. Maybe a pointed observation tower like the Venetian or Genoese one in Istanbul.

By the way, remember how in Ukrainian times the official Kyiv authorities claimed that the Russian Black Sea Fleet was hindering the transformations in Sevastopol. Let's, they say, remove the warships and fill the embankments with bars, hotels and restaurants.

Two years after the return of Sevastopol to Russia, the assertion of the Ukrainian authorities was refuted: the Navy is in place, and tourists are coming here. So the presence of a fleet is not a minus, it is a plus for Sevastopol. This is the same, forgive me sailors, tourist feature, like the White City, and Fiolent, and Chersonesos.