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Crimea should expect Russian tourists in summer

According official data, about six million tourists travel to the Crimean Black Sea coast annually

© ITAR-TASS/Alexei Pavlishak

MOSCOW, March 14. /ITAR-TASS/. The upcoming summer season in Crimea will be generally good for the region’s tourism industry, believes the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism (Rostourism), Alexander Radkov.

“I think the holiday season will be generally positive,” he told Itar-Tass on Friday. “Russian tourists who go on holiday to Crimea are usually ‘returning tourists’. They do not betray their preferences and will continue travelling there as before.”

“As for the republic’s possible accession to Russia, I suppose it will be good for Crimea to enter the ruble zone,” Radkov said, adding that this “will add certain stability to relations between tour operators, tourists, hotels and health resorts”, which lacked in relations with foreign partners, when prices were fixed in dollars and euros, depending on exchange fluctuations.

“This will make it possible to cooperate more effectively with different state funds involved in Russian citizens’ tourism,” he added.

According official data, about six million tourists travel to the Crimean Black Sea coast annually. Market operators estimate that about two million of them are Russians. There are about 15,000 restaurants and cafes in Crimea today, 825 big hotels and about 4,500 private lodging facilities.

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