How its inside Russia as Ukraine crisis deepens. A sample from News report as published in
The St. Petersburg Times
CRISIS HITS RUSSIAN TOURISM
By Diana Kulchitskaya and Anna Dolgov
The St. Petersburg Times
Published: May 14, 2014 (Issue # 1810)
Moscow’s interference in Ukraine has caused a sharp drop in foreign tourism to Russia, with scores of travel cancelations for political and security reasons coming ahead of the summer holiday season, an industry newsletter said.
Most Russian tour operators have reported a significant drop in sales, with cancellations coming in from around the world, including regions that were traditionally considered “loyal” to Russia, RATA News tourism industry newsletter reported last week.
According to the report, approximately 10 to 15 percent of tour bookings have been canceled.
Tour operators from Poland have canceled most of their reservations, and operators from Finland, a country that is traditionally viewed in Russia as a “loyal” tourist market, have also put through a number of “unexpected” cancellations, the report said.
While most Europeans cite their objections to Russia’s actions in Ukraine as reasons for canceling travel reservations, some are also concerned about security in Russia. A group from Albania has agreed to visit Russia only after it received guarantees that all losses and damages would be compensated in case of a war, the report said.
Americans are also “actively canceling” their travel reservations to Russia, the report said, blaming the cancellations by U.S. and Latin America travelers on Washington’s criticism of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The report also said that tourists from Southeast Asia, who are usually undeterred by political upheavals, have also canceled a number of their tours, and a handful of cancellations have also been received from China — a country that has largely maintained a relative neutrality throughout the crisis in Ukraine.
However, Yury Borzykin, vice president of RATA, predicted that in June or July the number of tourists would return to normal.
“We cannot speak of a significant fall right now, the trend is set, however, it will not have a strong effect on the economy in the tourism sector,” Borzykin added. He said that the overall tourism statistics for 2014 may be even higher then in 2013, as the figures could be boosted by the tourists who came to the Olympic Games in Sochi.
Other analysts are also optimistic. “The decline is a temporary trend, which will be over in a couple of months,” said Vadim Prasov, vice president of the Federation for Restaurateurs and Hoteliers. He added that the Russian tourism market was small and has the potential to grow. Domestic tourism may also expand, he added.
Official data show that Russia hosts about 2 million tourists annually, while the number of foreigners coming to the country for non-tourist purposes is about nine times higher.
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The Russian government will pump 7 billion rubles ($196 million) into subsidizing transport links and infrastructure between Crimea and the Russian mainland, in an attempt to save a tourist season that is likely to be ruined by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Federal budget funds will go toward overhauling existing transportation hubs such as the Simferopol airport in Crimea’s capital and the ferry terminal in the Russian Black Sea port city of Kerch, as well as subsidizing ferry and air fares, according to a government order signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and posted on the government’s website last week.
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