Crimea became more affordable for Russians, prices for Simferopol flights dropped - experts

UFA, 17 March 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. An average flight fare to Crimea this year has significantly decreased in price. And by the beginning of the season three more additional flights to Simferopol will be launched. The flow of tourists increased by 21 percent compared to the last year. Experts and tour operators associate this with improving the logistics of the popular resort. In their view, the return to the market of the main competitor - Turkey - will not remove Crimea from the leading positions in the upcoming season. The review material on the eve of the third anniversary of the Crimean Spring is published by Izvestia.

Biletix specialists compared the cost of air tickets to all domestic destinations booked in January-February for May-June in 2016 and 2017. It turned out that for the year the average cost of the flight across the country decreased from 9750 rubles to 6896 rubles, that is, by 29 percent. The flight fares to Crimea fell from 10,143 to 8,378 rubles, by 18 percent.

The Minister of Resorts and Tourism of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Strelbitsky told the newspaper that the tourist flow to the peninsula had increased by 21 percent in 2016. "The number of tourists last year was 5 million 600 thousand people. The flow of holidaymakers grew due to the well-coordinated work – the program that we conducted with the federal media", said Sergei Strelbitsky.

The Minister also marked that the government decided to increase the number of subsidized flights to Simferopol. This year they will be three more. In general, their number will increase to 61 flights. Since June, they will start to operate in full.

According to the group of companies "Sletat.ru", in 2017 the flow of tourists interested in rest in Crimea continues to grow. In February, this direction accounted for 58-62 percent of users' searches. In March, the demand rose to 65-68 percent, despite the fact that the resort is traditionally considered as summer one. According to tour operators, by the summer the demand for this destination can increase several times.