The summer of 2023 in Crimea, it seems, will not be successful for the occupiers.
Due to the proximity to the front line, transport problems, the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces, etc., citizens of the Russian Federation do not book rooms for the summer season in 2023 on the occupied peninsula.
"Radio Freedom" writes about it.
"At the beginning of March, on average, only 10% of the room stock was booked for the summer: in Sevastopol and on the South Bank, travelers reserved 15% of rooms, in the West of the peninsula - less than 5%", - reported the Association of Small Hotels of Crimea.
No demand is expected in the field of children's tourism in Crimea either.
So, in February, only 8% of tickets to children's health facilities were sold out.
Moreover, in the summer, Crimea can become an even more dangerous place if the Armed Forces of Ukraine go on a counteroffensive in the south.
Citizens of the Russian Federation, who will still go to Crimea in the summer, will face transport problems.
Planes to Crimea are not expected to fly until the end of the war.
Few would dare to go to the peninsula through the "land corridor" where military operations are ongoing.
Russians will also face long-hour traffic jams on the approaches to the bridge across the Kerch Strait.
Serhii Aksyonov, the "head" of the occupied Crimea, said that the last season "did not take place in full".
According to him, it is planned to "maximize the use of the carrying capacity of the Crimean Bridge" and increase the number of passenger trains.
"We are considering any possibility to increase the passenger flow. So there will be no critical failure," said Aksyonov.
"Radio Freedom" reports that according to official data of the Russian Federation, the total volume of tourism in Crimea in 2022 decreased by almost a third compared to 2021 - 6.5 million people against 9.5 million people.
In the summer, 4.2 million people rested in Crimea - 19% less than a year earlier.
On average, accommodation facilities were loaded by about 60%, and in some places - by 10-15%.
Also, the experts cited by the publication note that Russia consistently overestimates tourism statistics.
In particular, every person who entered Crimea is considered a tourist, even if he is a local resident who regularly leaves and enters the peninsula.
As noted by "Radio Freedom", therefore, the real number of those who rested in Crimea in 2022 was most likely significantly lower.
It will be recalled that Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the OP, said that the Russian-Ukrainian war will not end without
Crimea
, which is "a death by the neck" for Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin.
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