“If not stones from the sky, then fuel oil from the sea": how many tourists Crimea attracted during the New Year holidays and what to expect in the summer

Pavlo Buranov

Pavlo Buranov

14.1.2025

“If not stones from the sky, then fuel oil from the sea": how many tourists Crimea attracted during the New Year holidays and what to expect in the summer

Few people outside Crimea know this, but everyone on the peninsula does: the tourist season is not only about summer vacations but also winter ones. During the Christmas holidays, people come here to celebrate the New Year by the sea and go skiing in the mountains. Crimean tour operators summarize the results and make forecasts of this winter's tourist arrivals and what to expect from the summer.  

“The tourist flow has increased by two percent,” the Crimean Ministry of Resorts and Tourism cheerfully reports to Moscow, apparently without warning the propaganda media of its success. And on local radio, Svetlana Vozna, executive director of the Crimean Tourist Alliance, admits that compared to last year, fewer people came. 

“By about a third,” says the owner of a hotel complex in Sudak. “I've had a core of clients for the New Year holidays for ten years. When it all started (the full-scale invasion), some stopped coming, then others. And for this New Year, half of the hotel's guests are purely locals, and you can't make much money on them,” the hotelier complains.

He sees the reason for the decline of the tourism industry in the fact that Crimea has actually become a war zone. That's why the western part of the peninsula is particularly sad without vacationers. “Who will come here if almost every night there are helicopters right overhead, air defense systems, and drones flying. Internet and communication are down because jammers are working somewhere nearby. If you go to the waterfront, you'll see firing points, trenches, and patrols. Frankly speaking, the surroundings are not New Year's. Who would come here to celebrate?” an employee of a Yevpatorian restaurant is indignant.

A resident of Livadia laughingly watches a story on a propaganda channel about how the tourist boom has caused long traffic jams on the Kerch Bridge and crowds walking along the Yalta embankment. “So now they check every car for half an hour,” the Crimean explains about the traffic jams, ”And as for Yalta, well, the whole of Simferopol is here to take pictures, because the atmosphere there is not festive. He adds that the oil spill in the Black Sea has not yet had an impact - there are not many people willing to swim in the winter Black Sea, and Russians are “even curious to see birds in fuel oil.” However, the locals have no illusions about the upcoming summer season and do not share the optimism of local gauleiter Sergei Aksenov, who believes that the consequences of the environmental disaster will be eliminated by summer. 

“We don't have such early bookings that we can say right now how many people will give up their summer vacation because of the fuel oil. But I have already been asked several times by clients whether the stain has reached Malorechka, which means they know and are monitoring it. I don't know what to do. They say that the tanker will be raised only in June, and fuel oil will be spewed from the bottom all summer. It's a complete... mess. First the coronavirus, then this SMO, now fuel oil. The fifth-year without a season! I don't know what to do at all! If not stones from the sky, then fuel oil from the sea!” the owner of a mini-hotel in Big Alushta is almost crying. 

The oil spill at the tanker accident site is still ongoing, and a week ago a spot was found near the shore in Yevpatoriya. Thus, the entire coast of the peninsula is now covered with fuel oil. “Judging by the schemes of the forecast models, the fuel oil has now entered the Crimean Current, which is a powerful, steady current along the entire coast of the peninsula,” explains Igor Vakhrushev, PhD in Geography. 

Scientists believe that the oil slick will affect the reputation of the resorts for a long time. After all, storms and downstream currents will raise sediments for several years. Therefore, the seven million tourists planned by the collaborators for this year's vacation are most likely already booking rooms in Turkey and Georgia, and the population of the coastal cities and towns of Crimea, which is completely dependent on the holiday season, is on the verge of complete ruin. 

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