The sea in Gelendzhik is blooming, but this does not stop tourists. In a decent hotel in Anapa – which is far from Turkey – there is only one room left, or maybe not, but hurry up to pay the deposit. This information was given to us by the travel agency.
The closure of popular foreign destinations forced tourists to turn their eyes to the resorts of the Black Sea coast. As a result, there are practically no vacant hotel beds in the Russian “south”. This was stated by the head of the Federal Tourism Agency Zarina Doguzova. According to her, the number of rooms is “overloaded as much as possible.” Tour operators confirm the overheating of the market and note that those accommodation resources that have not yet taken up will amaze travelers with their cost.
According to Doguzova, today there is a shortage of high-quality, modern hotels throughout the south. The explosive demand for vacations at Russian resorts is primarily due to the restriction of air traffic with other countries due to the coronavirus. “MK” decided to find out how much it would have to pay for the opportunity to bask in the sun and swim in the sea. With a request to choose a ticket to the Black Sea coast, we turned to a large Russian tour operator. I was interested in a trip in the first half of July, for 10 days.
– The whole family want to go to the sea: me, my husband, ten-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. No Resort Specific Requests. The main thing is not far from the beach, at least half board, with a flight and a group transfer to the hotel.
– Let’s start with the simplest options. For example, Crimea. Hotel without stars, single room, no air conditioning, with fan. The cost of accommodation with breakfast-dinner meals starts from 80-90 thousand rubles.
– Let’s try to narrow the search circle and consider only unpopular directions. I don’t want to share my sunbed with a dozen other tourists.
– Will not work. All directions are congested. Anapa, Gelendzhik, Sochi are overcrowded. We risk, in principle, not finding a place. They realized it too late.
– There are no options left at all?
– Let’s look. We will not watch Gelendzhik. There the sea is blooming and, despite this, there are practically no vacant rooms.
– And if to Anapa?
– There is a place “on request” – a two-star hotel. Cost from 145 thousand rubles. The price includes flight, transfer, full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner). The hotel has practically no territory, but there is a small pool and the first coastline. There is another option. A very modern hotel by the standards of Anapa. But here the price starts from 200 thousand rubles. And here, too, “on request.”
– What does it mean?
– It turns out that for your dates there, and there, there is only one number, a maximum of two. Please note that while we are updating the information, others may get ahead of us, and these options will no longer remain.
– You called the second hotel “very modern by domestic standards.” Is it comparable to Turkish proposals?
-Only if it’s a stretch.
Obviously, there will not be enough space for everyone at Russian resorts this summer. Even with the opening of Turkish and Egyptian destinations, this will not cover the domestic demand for vacations and will not quantitatively cover the needs of Russians for vacations. By the way, last year a place for a tent in Olenevka (Crimea) in August cost 3.5 thousand rubles a day. And even there were no empty seats.
Overheating in the market of domestic seaside resorts has caused a surge in demand from Russians “hungry” for summer vacations, explains Mark Goikhman, chief analyst at TeleTrade. “The closure of access to popular foreign resorts has now largely reoriented the flow to the Black Sea coast. There is a high deferred demand from those who could not go to the sea last year due to lockdowns. However, we do not have a sufficiently developed network of tourist accommodation. As a result of the combination of the named factors that has developed this summer, the demand has multiplied – that is, tenfold, exceeded the supply, ”he stressed.
As a result, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), prices for resorts in the South of Russia have not only risen sharply, but continue to grow during the season. Thus, package tours at the end of June increased by an average of 10%, even compared to the middle of the month.
“Prices have increased the most in the premium segment (I mean the number of rooms): on average, rest in Sochi has become more expensive by 72%, in Yalta – by 68%, in Feodosia, Koktebel, Sudak – by 87%, in Gelendzhik – by 46 %, in Anapa – by 44%, Evpatoria – by 58%, in Alushta – by 48%. In the middle segment among the beach resorts in Russia, prices increased the most in Yalta and Sochi – by 20%. Feodosia has risen in price by 15%, Gelendzhik, Evpatoria – by 13%, Alushta – by 12%, Anapa – by 8%. In the lower price segment, prices rose the most in Yalta – by 20%, ”said Artem Deev, head of the analytical department at Amarkets.
Read the article “Queue to the beach from the night: tourists described the Black Sea collapse”
Newspaper headline:
Vacationers bet on Black
.