By Vestnik Kavkaza
Immediately after the end of the Olympics Sochi turned into a ghost town. It seemed that the city had been deserted, when thousands of volunteers, law-enforcement officers, employees, officials, athletes and guests of the Olympic capital left it. But the resort season returned life to the city. However, according to Yevgeny Kudelya, the Minister of Resorts and Tourism of Krasnodar Territory, to promote the region in the tourist direction seriously, more serious financial resources are needed: “You know how expensive one second of advertising on top TV channels is. At the moment we are focused on the internet, as according to our surveys more than 34% of people buy tours on the internet without tour operators or tour agents; they plan their vacation by themselves. That’s why we have a lot of advertising on the internet. We have banners in major Russian cities.”
When the Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of Krasnodar Territory conducted surveys in big cities, it turned out that the biggest relative density of tourists who visit Sochi is in Sakhalin - the biggest number of tourists per 1000 of the population in comparison with other regions.
According to the Rosstat, last year Krasnodar Territory welcomed 11.6 million tourists. However, by July 1st, 2014, almost two million people have already visited Sochi; occupancy is 86%. In Anapa there are more than a million tourists; occupancy is 92%. In Gelendzhik there are a million tourists; occupancy is 78%. Tuapse and the Tuapse District have more than 700 thousand visitors; occupancy is 81%. At the moment, 4.5 million people have already visited the region.
As for tax revenues, there is growth of 20-25%. “It is a rather abrupt jump. It is explained by the new facilities which were built in Imeretinka and Krasnaya Polyana. And we are glad about it. We predict that this year we will cross the line of 12 million tourists,” Kudelya says.
As hotel capacity increased by 30 thousand beds, prices reduced seriously in Krasnya Polyana and Imeretinka. For example, at the moment a twin room in a three-star hotel with three meals daily costs three thousand rubles. In a four-star hotel a twin room with breakfast costs 5 500 rubles for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. “The prices are normal,” Kudelya says. “The level of service is high, as hotels are managed by international operators. So prices are serious corrected in Ileretinka and Sochi. Everybody is competing for clients. In a couple of years they will gain their clients and occupancy will be higher, but at the moment Sochi’s occupancy is standard.”
