Winter holiday in Crimea gets more and more popular. Tourists from Russia make tour reservations for new year’s eve holidays since summer, choosing holidays with children, new tourist routes and recreation at health-resorts.
According to experts from the tourism industry, this year the demand for New Year’s Eve holidays in Crimea grew by 13% approximately, and the occupancy of accommodation facilities is close to 100%. More and more tourists prefer to come to the peninsula with children, choosing for themselves not only health-resort recreation, but also new tourist routes. But let us look it through one by one.
Get your winter tour prepared in summer
Last year, over 190 thousand guests spent New Year holidays in Crimea. A steady increase in tourist flow by 10-13% was observed throughout the year, experts say.
"A markedly increased booking of New Year's tours began in the summer and now the resort regions show an increase in booking of up to 70%, and some large resort complexes − up to 100%", — said the experts.
Thus, according to Biletix online ticket reservation service, the demand for flights to the New Year's Crimea compared to other domestic destinations this year grew up to 7%. In 2020 Crimea is next to Sochi, and this indicates a high interest in winter holidays in the region.
"The key departure points to Crimea for the New Year holidays are Moscow − 59% − and then St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg. Seven days is an average period of stay in Crimea in 2020 on the New Year holidays. It is worth mentioning that the period of airline tickets booking has grown significantly: from 39 days last year (1 month before departure) to 86 days (2.5 months before departure). The number of guests arriving in Crimea with children on the New Year holidays has also grown significantly − from 11.1% to 18.7%, which means an increased reliance on Crimea as a family vacation destination", — they informed at Biletix.
Real bargains
As analysts of the Tutu.ru travel service specify, this year vacationers are more frequently coming to the peninsula with children from 0 to 15 years old. The interest in the region among vacationers over 55 years old has also increased. Most travelers choose Simferopol as the city for their winter fairy tale. The Crimean capital was in the TOP-5 of popular Russian cities for New Year trips.
"The average price for a round-trip ticket on New Year holidays to Simferopol from two Russian capitals behaves "modestly": there are no abrupt fluctuations or a noticeable increase in prices. Moreover, the average price from Moscow is slightly (4.5%) decreasing for the fifth year in a row. The average ticket price for round-trip flights to Simferopol remained at the level of the previous year: 12,700 rubles ($ 195) for a round-trip ticket. The average ticket price to Moscow and back is 11,013 rubles ($ 170), St. Petersburg – 17,453 rubles ($ 270)", — specified at the Tutu.ru service.
The experts also point out the affordable prices for New Year tours to Crimea, which remain such due to the effective interaction of government and business: the cost of vacations in the region remained at the level of last year, and in some cases even decreased.
According to TVIL.ru analytics, the price of holidays in Crimea on New Year holidays decreased on average by 8.3%, while the growth in the number of bookings increased by 35%.
"The New Year’s booking level does not differ from the last year in the TOP-5 cities of Crimea: Yalta, Sevastopol, Alushta, Theodosia, Sudak. Popularity of Sevastopol has more than doubled, and that of Kerch even tripled", — said experts adding that per day price for stay in Crimea will cost on average 2700 rubles ($ 42).
So, in Yalta, tourists can rent a house for 2,826 rubles ($ 44) per day, in Sevastopol – 2,495 ($ 38), in Alushta – 3,182 rubles ($ 49), in Theodosia – 2,285 rubles ($ 35), in Sudak – 1,715 ($ 27), in Miskhor – 1,933 ($ 30), in Kerch – 2,000 ($ 31), in Simferopol – 1,860 rubles ($ 29), In Alupka – 2,228 ($ 34), in Eupatoria – 3,685 rubles ($ 57) per night.
New opportunities
Charter programs also contribute to the growth of tourist flow. Travel companies note that winter Crimea is preferred by lovers of outdoor activities and cultural tourism. Travelers are interested not only in wellness programs, but also in new thematic tours.
"Crimea in winter now is not only popular hotels with heated and indoor pools and the opportunity to take a course of rehabilitation in local health resorts at reduced prices, but also new sightseeing tours with interesting programs. The most popular tour in Crimea is "Crimean studies", as well as a topic tour "Wines of Crimea". The resorts of Crimea in winter season will be a good alternative to overloaded tourist destinations in terms of sightseeing and recreation", — said the Intourist Travels spokesperson.
By plane, by car, by train
Tourists can get to the Crimean New Year's fairy tale on their own, having arrived in the region by car, or spend a couple of hours and see the beauty of the peninsula from a bird's eye view, and then enjoy the comfort and hospitality of the Crimean Wave airport, or become one of the first passengers of the trains that will transport guests to the peninsula on New Year's Eve over the Crimean Bridge.
By the way, there will be plenty of railway travelers in Crimea. All tickets for trains departing on December 28 and 29 from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Crimea were sold out in a week.
In addition, the peninsula has become more accessible for "winged" guests. In this autumn/winter season, Simferopol Airport opened three new regular flights: to Saratov, Kazan and Mineralnye Vody, and increased the number of flights to existing destinations.
The demand for the region is also evidenced by the analytics of large tour operators. Thus, according to ATOR (Tour Operators of Russia Association), the booking period of vacation in Crimea has extended abruptly and has already reached March 2020.
