Will hotels in Crimea and Sochi open by summer?

President of the Association of Hospitality Industry Professionals of the Rostov Region Elena Papizh said in an interview with Interfax that the coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the work of hotels, hotels, hostels in the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts.

Hotels have been closed at the request of the authorities since March 28.

In Crimea, the load of hotels is now 2-3%. Hotels in Sochi are now closed. The resort has facilities that received guests before the announcement of restrictions. As soon as the guests leave, the hotels are preserved. Most people don’t work, some go to remote work. Hotel owners pay employees 2/3 of their salary.

E. Papige says that there is a hole in the tourist market in the form of a huge amount of free room stock. Many hotels were forced to return advance payments in six months. This leads to new problems, because the objects distributed funds for “life” and renovation of the room fund. According to a disappointing forecast, about 70% of hotel facilities in the south are facing bankruptcy.

“If hotels begin to open by May 1, they will have 2-3 years to get out of this situation, and if the deadlines move, as was announced, to June 1, then the elimination of the consequences will take at least 5 years,” the Association of Hoteliers of AMOS said.

Representatives of the Crimean tourism industry believe that if the season shifts further than June 1, the result will be deplorable: by autumn, the republic will lose half of hotel facilities.

The way out of the situation, experts see in the support of the hotel business by the authorities: subsidies for utility payments and salaries for simple, interest-free deferrals on loans and refunds for unused vacation until 2021 with the ability to offer, as an alternative, the transfer of rest for another time, exemption from taxes and insurance premiums until at least October 1, 2020.

Source: turizm