SOCHI, November 21. /TASS/. Over 6.4 mln tourists have visited the Crimea since the beginning of the year, a record figure for the entire post-Soviet period, said Minister of Resorts and Tourism of the region Vadim Volchenko at 3rd All-Russian Congress of Tour Operators and Travel Agents in Russia on Wednesday.
"At the moment, the number of tourists is 6.4 mln people. This season is considered the most successful for the entire post-Soviet period. The previous record was set in 2012, when 6.1 million people visited Crimea," he said. Volchenko noted that "more than 1 million tourists - 16% of the total flow - arrived across the border with Ukraine." "This is 18% more than for all of 2017," he clarified.
Russian Federal Tourism Agency also expects to see a record increase of tourists to the Crimea. "The development of transport links with the peninsula, the opening of the passenger bridge across the Kerch Strait, the introduction of a new passenger terminal at Simferopol’s airport, together with measures taken to bolster the region’s tourist attractiveness, have led to a surge in demand for holidays in Crimea and a 30-percent increase in tourist traffic. Since the beginning of the year, the peninsula has received 6.3 million people, which is a record. By the end of the year, 6.5 million tourists are expected to have visited Crimea, which will be a maximum for the entire post-Soviet period," Oleg Safonov, head of Russian Federal Tourism Agency said at the Congress.