YEKATERINBURG, December 18. /TASS/. EU’s ban for European companies to offer tourism services in Crimea will not affect the tourism sector in the peninsula, as the share of foreign businesses is negligibly small, Ilya Umansky of the Russian Association of Tourism Operators told TASS on Thursday.

“If foreign tourists stop coming to Crimea, the niche will be taken by Russians,” he said.

“In 2013, 1.5 million Russians came to Crimea, and during the summer season this year two million Russian tourists visited resorts in Simferopol, Yalta and other towns,” the Association’s head Maya Lomidze said several days earlier.

On Thursday, the EU banned European businesses making investments in Crimea’s economy, buying real estate, constructing infrastructures and offering tourism services. Besides, the EU limits export of goods and technologies for the energy sector, transport and telecommunications in Crimea.