In the first half of 2019, almost 60% of vacationers in Crimea arrived on the peninsula through the Crimean bridge. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets at a meeting on pressing issues of development of sports, culture and tourism of the republic.

“Of the total number of arrivals for the first half of the year, 58% arrived through the Crimean bridge. This is wonderful, and this once again emphasizes the importance of developing infrastructure, especially the main one, which ensures the accessibility of the resorts of Crimea, ”Golodets quotes TASS.

Tourism development

Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of the year, more than 4 million tourists have visited Crimea, which is 11% higher than in 2018. This was stated by the Minister of Resorts and Tourism of the region Vadim Volchenko.

“The number of visitors, which is the main indicator of the success of the season, continues to grow. As of August 1, we have more than four million guests. The growth trend remains at 11% compared to last year, which was recognized as a record for the entire post-Soviet history, ”RIA Novosti reports.

In 2018, the Republic of Crimea received 6.8 million tourists, which is 28% more than in the previous year. In addition, this is the highest figure in the entire post-Soviet history. The head of the region Sergey Aksyonov wrote about this in his Instagram.

According to the politician, more than 190 thousand tourists celebrated the New Year holidays in Crimea, which is 40% higher than last year.

“47% of tourists arrived on the Crimean bridge, 37% - by air. Another 16% of vacationers entered through the state border with Ukraine, ”Aksyonov emphasized then.

In 2019, the Crimean authorities plan to receive 7 million people, but they hope that this figure can be increased by another 500 thousand.

“7 million does not suit us anymore, we have to go to 7.5 million,” Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of the republic’s State Council, reports to TASS.

The road part of the Crimean bridge opened on May 15, the beginning of movement on the railway part is scheduled for December 2019. On July 18, completion of rail laying on the bridge was reported. A total of 5 thousand tons of rails and more than 76 thousand sleepers were laid on a double-track railway.

Ongoing initiatives

A large-scale improvement program is being implemented in Crimea, recreation zones and infrastructure facilities will undergo reconstruction, Aksyonov said on Friday during a meeting in Simferopol. In particular, the authorities are preparing a program for the overhaul of beach areas in Yevpatoriya, Saki, Black Sea and Leninsky regions, as well as in the village of Nikolaevka near Simferopol.

According to the head of the Crimea, it is planned to update the systems of treatment facilities on Crimean beaches in order to improve water quality. Such measures will increase the competitiveness of resorts.

“Next year we plan to reconstruct most of the treatment facilities along the southern coast of Crimea, which ... will significantly improve the quality of sea water. We hope that all these measures will attract our Russian tourists in the first place, we will compete with Turkish resorts, we will fight for this, ”TASS reports the words of the head of the region.

In addition, the Crimean authorities plan to launch rail express trains from Simferopol Airport to the resort towns of the republic.

“We will discuss issues in order, by analogy with Moscow, to develop proposals for the implementation of the railway express program from Simferopol Airport in all tourist destinations,” Aksyonov added.

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Recall that the Simferopol airport is located 10 km from the capital of Crimea, and now tourists need to first get to the Simferopol railway station, from where trains leave for the resort towns.

Crimea has achieved impressive results in the tourism industry, said Yuri Barzykin, vice president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT).

“Tourism in the Crimea shows a very high dynamics. According to the results of last year, an increase in tourist flow by 30% was recorded, this year on May holidays, an increase of more than 20%. The commissioning of the Crimean bridge, the new airport terminal and in December of this year, railway communication is very important for further growth, ”said an expert RT.

However, in his opinion, the work on the modernization of the tourism sector in Crimea cannot be stopped, since there are still a number of unreached areas.

“But you need not rest on your laurels, you need to build additional accommodation facilities, think about medical and medical tourism. Crimea has an inexhaustible cultural and educational potential. It is also necessary to expand the scope of the season, because air and rail services operate all year round. Therefore, you need to have a product that will be offered to guests not only in the summer season, but also in the off-season, ”the specialist believes.