Prices in Crimean hotels this summer could increase by 15-30 percent, the Kommersant newspaper reported Tuesday, citing Russian tour operators.
Hotel prices in Crimea last summer were already 15-20 percent up compared to 2014 and this trend will continue, Tourism Industry Union spokeswoman Irina Tyurina said, according to the paper.
Tyurina attribute the growth of prices to the increased interest in the peninsula among tourists. Last year, the Crimean Peninsula was visited by 4.6 million people, up 21 percent compared to 2014, Kommersant reported.
The Crimean authorities hope the number of tourists will increase following Russia's ban on flights to Egypt and the suspension of selling package tours to Turkey at the end of last year.
As a result of the weakening of the ruble and bans on travels to two popular destinations, domestic tourism in the country rose by 18 percent in 2015, the TASS news agency reported last week, citing the head of Russia's travel industry watchdog Rostourism Oleg Safonov.
Outbound tourism in Russia, on the contrary, is experiencing a sharp slump.The number of Russians going abroad for holidays fell by 31.4 percent in 2015, TASS reported last month, citing the head of the Russian Association of Tour Operators Maya Lomidze.