How will Crimea surprise Russian tourists?

The head of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, has announced readiness for the beginning of the holiday season. The program 'Opinion' and its presenter Evelina Zakamsk stressed on TV channel Russia 24 that: "Crimea is ready to receive tourists and conduct serious work, taking into account last year's mistakes."

According to the official, the authorities have paid special attention to the transport infrastructure.

The expectation time at the Kerch ferry, even at peak load, won't be more than four hours during the new holiday season. More than 10 ferries are to be involved. Deputy prime minister and Aksenov personally are to supervise it weekly. The head of the republic also controls the situation from his office, where he can see the situation at the crossing with the help of video cameras.

"In parallel we use information from non-governmental organizations, independent sources, and the citizens themselves. I have no doubts that the crossing will be able to cope with the task. Last year let our president down, and this year the situation will be the same,'' the head of Crimea said, UGA reports.

Preparations for the holiday season affected the international airport of Simferopol, where large-scale works for the construction of parking lots and infrastructure development are taking place now. According to Aksenov, the airport didn't receive such a large number of passengers "even in the times of the Soviet Union."

"I am confident that we will cope with the flow of 7 million passengers, and the rest of them will remain satisfied with the quality of service,'' the head of Crimea said.

Vestnik Kavkaza asked the experts how the popularity of Crimea and Crimean resorts may increase this year, as well as how recreational facilities have changed on the peninsula.

"I am confident that we will cope with the flow of 7 million passengers, and rest of them will remain satisfied with the quality of service,'' the head of the Crimea said.

Vestnik Kavkaza asked experts how the popularity of Crimea and Crimean resorts may increase this year, as well as how recreational facilities have changed on the peninsula.

A senior lecturer of the Department of Business Management, Economics and Social Sciences (FESN) at RANHiGS, Yevgeny Itsakov, said in an interview with a VK correspondent that it is difficult to predict the growth of Crimean popularity as a destination of domestic tourism.

"Turkey and Egypt are fully closed during the first season, but people will want to travel. Taking into account that there is only one warm sea in the country and two resorts – Crimea and the Black Sea coast in Krasnodar Territory – I think we can expect 30-40% growth of tourists in Crimea," the expert said.

Professor of the Department of Management and Service of the Institute of Sectoral Management (IEM) at RANHiGS, Galina Dekhtyar, also noted that huge work has been done in the peninsula, but a lot of infrastructure should be completed. 

"Above all, we should complete those elements that are tied with electricity in order to avoid blackouts. Secondly, we should solve the issue of water supply, because stay of our citizens should be with the first and second aspects. There are hotels in Crimea that receive this status according to completely unknown criteria. This also should be reviewed. The next moment is an increase in prices, and this is a disappointing factor. But it should be noted that only the improvement of quality of these services can guarantee the arrival of tourist flows there,'' the expert noted.