Beautiful beaches, mild temperatures and low prices attract many Russians to Crimea. The fact that the peninsula is actually in a war zone doesn’t seem to bother anyone here, you feel “at home”. Until it crashes again.
It was August of last year when the blogger Svetlana from northern Siberia gained nationwide fame overnight. Her Video of a hasty escape from the annexed Crimean Peninsula after a Ukrainian attack on a Russian military base near Saki is shared by millions. “I don’t want to leave Crimea at all, we felt at home here,” the woman cries in the short clip. In Ukraine, the Russian tourist’s rude awakening caused malice and countless parodies. A few days earlier, Svetlana struck a completely different note. “It’s so quiet here, come here, relax, don’t be afraid!” the woman enthused for a holiday in Crimea, which Russia annexed in violation of international law in 2014.
The attack on the Russian base in the east of the peninsula was just the beginning, since then Crimea has been repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian army. After the attack on the Crimean bridge last Monday – the second in nine months – many Russian vacationers can experience for themselves what blogger Svetlana spoke about last August. “We were told, ‘Come to Crimea, it’s safe here’ – we believed it. And how are we going to get home?” a tourist from St. Petersburg complained to Telegram. The dream holiday by the sea is turning into a nightmare for many Russians.
Russians are said to be traveling through combat zones
After Monday’s explosion, thousands of tourists are unable to leave and are stuck on the peninsula. The damage to the bridge partially eliminated an important link between the peninsula and mainland Russia. Although the authorities released one lane for car traffic on Tuesday, the train route was not damaged in the explosions. Nevertheless, since Monday, kilometers of traffic jams have been forming – in front of the bridge, in front of the ferry terminals on the peninsula and on the land route that leads to Russia via the occupied areas in southern Ukraine.
After the attack, Russia’s Transport Ministry recommended that vacationers avoid the damaged bridge by taking the “New Regions” road – a 400-kilometer route through Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian invasion. Those who decide to travel via Melitopol and Mariupol not only have to reckon with a lack of infrastructure and a poor mobile network: the front runs near the road, and the areas are repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian army. Instead of warning its own citizens of the possible dangers of such a route, the Kremlin sends tourists into the middle of the war zone. “There are not many countries in the world that don’t care so much about their own people,” Crimea-born Ukrainian journalist Denis Trubetskoy wrote on Twitter.
The recommendation to travel through the combat zones to Crimea is not entirely new. Earlier this month, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev suggested at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russian citizens should use the land corridor to travel to the peninsula if possible. The background: Logistics problems arose after the first attack on the Crimean Bridge in October 2022. Since then, only passenger cars have been allowed to cross the Kerch Bridge. Trucks and tourist buses are transported across the strait by ferries.
Every second hotel bed remains empty
Miles of traffic jams on the Crimean Bridge made headlines in the Russian media as early as June. The reason for the delays was not only the start of the holiday season, but primarily the long vehicle checks due to the tense security situation. The fact that, despite numerous measures, there was another attack caused many Russians and Crimean residents to shake their heads: “People were stuck in traffic jams for seven hours because of the controls in front of the bridge, and now the attack is coming from a completely different person page,” the exile medium Meduza quotes a resident of Simferopol as saying.
The long traffic jams emerged even as the number of bookings on the peninsula has plummeted since the invasion began – according to local authorities, hotel occupancy was only about 50 percent in June. Krim.Realii, the offshoot of the US station Radio Liberty, reported a week ago from half-empty beaches even in the most popular resorts, such as Yalta or Sudak. More and more Russians are realizing that holidays on the peninsula are not safe – even if state propaganda has a different opinion.
In addition to the Ukrainian attacks and attacks on representatives of the occupation administration, holidaymakers should also be put off by the numerous defenses that have been massively expanded in recent months in light of Ukrainian plans to retake the peninsula. Some beaches were mined, and trenches were created on others. Like Crimea.Realii reported, the formerly popular seaside resort of Mizhvodne on the east coast became a base for the Russian army. As a result, the tourism business was completely eliminated. According to Ukrainian sources, owners of properties on the coast have even been asked to evict their homes for “obstructing the construction of defense works”. This information cannot be verified independently.
Tourists as a shield from Ukrainian attacks?
Vacationers on the annexed peninsula are important to the Kremlin. On the one hand, they support the ailing tourism industry of the peninsula, which has been internationally isolated since 2014. On the other hand, Russia could also use tourists as a shield against Ukrainian attacks. According to Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak, Russia deliberately caused the traffic jams in June to protect the Crimean Bridge from attacks. In early July, Podoliak warned the Russians against traveling to the occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. People who vacation there should understand “that they are not tourists there – but accomplices of the occupation, with all the legal consequences in the future,” Podoliak said on Ukrainian television.
Even if Crimea has fewer visitors than before the invasion, there are still people who holiday there despite all the risks and dangers. Accommodation prices on the occupied peninsula are relatively low even compared to resorts on the Black Sea coast of Russia. In addition, according to Trubetskoy, many Russians are actually unaware that Crimea is dangerous. “Some people only realize there that some beaches are mined and therefore closed,” writes the journalist on Twitter.
Crimean vacationers are “mentally stable”
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia explains the willingness of Russians to travel to the peninsula with their supposedly high stress tolerance: “People who spend their holidays in Crimea are mentally stable enough: they understand that the bridge is a military target , the risks are there, they are high, and they accept these risks,” Sergei Romaschkin, vice-president of the association, told the Russian news portal 161.ru.
And if after major incidents – like the attack on the Crimean bridge – the number of tourists decreases, they will soon return, says Alexan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies of Russia. “I’ve worked in tourism for 33 years and I can say that people only remember bad news for two weeks. It doesn’t matter what it is: a tsunami, a shark that ate someone, an exploded volcano or bird flu,” says Mkrtchyan 161.ru. “In a fortnight the news will look very different.”
If it really happens as the Russian travel expert predicts, blogger Svetlana from Siberia may end up spending her summer vacation in Crimea again. Perhaps it will then be able to “feel at home” on the occupied peninsula again – especially since attacks and hostilities are no longer uncommon on Russian territory.