Opening Egypt does not scare Crimea
The head of the State Council Committee on sanatorium and resort complex and tourism Alexei Chernyak believes that the restoration of air communication with Egypt will not lead to an outflow of guests of the peninsula.
We were told that the Turkish direction would open and there would be no holidaymakers in Crimea. But nothing shocking happened. The same will happen with Egypt – nothing will change for Crimea. There is no point in comparing Crimea and Egypt.”
According to the parliamentarian, competition between resorts is not possible, since the beach season in Egypt begins in autumn, and travelers to the Crimea often go in summer.
The point of view of experts: the organized tourist flow to the Crimea in connection with the opening of Turkey in 2017 decreased: the fall was 3.7% compared to the figures for the same time in 2016 – to 5.18 million people. Also, professional participants of the travel market believe that the tourist season in Egypt is year-round.
Rashad Mammadov, CEO of TBS Group: Egypt is a year-round destination. In addition, in the summer it was always cheaper, and the Russian tourist still votes with the ruble.
Egypt will be able to take some flow from the resorts of Russia and Turkey, if charter flights are restored. Tourist products to the Arab Republic on the basis of regular flights to Cairo will not attract mass tourists. “Charters will fly to Egypt, according to my forecast, not earlier than this autumn,” said Alexan Mkrtchyan, CEO of the Pink Elephant network.
However, experts are not going to completely remove Crimea from the accounts, because the constant tourist flow to the region is guaranteed by travelers with restrictions on traveling abroad, there are more than one million of them. The opening of the bridge across the Kerch Strait can also help increase the flow of tourists by 20-30%.