OREANDA-NEWS  Bookings of Crimean hotels for the New Year holidays increased by an average of 36 percent over the year, according to the PCT.

The increase in demand for Sevastopol's accommodation facilities is even more significant – 42 percent, experts said, analyzing the statistics of the Travelline hotel business platform on December 26.

Tour operators also talk about a noticeable increase in sales of tours to the peninsula in the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the New Year holidays. Most often, travelers book three-star hotels. Their prices average 4.7 thousand rubles, which is 11 percent more than a year ago.

The average cost of placement in the "fours" and "fives" is ten thousand rubles, and this is 16 percent lower than last year's level. Half of the arrivals fall directly on New Year's Eve.

Crimea is most in demand among the residents of the peninsula themselves – they buy 46 percent of the rooms. Every fifth tourist is from Moscow and the Moscow region, eight percent are from the Krasnodar Territory, four are from the Rostov region.

"The sales growth for the New Year holidays is really noticeable. In general, the entire fourth quarter of this year was much better than the other three. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that this is the effect of a low base, because after the bombing of the Crimean Bridge on October 8, 2022, there was a serious decline, bookings revived only by spring," explained Elena Bazhenova, CEO of the Crimean tour operator Laspi.

Elena Bazhenova calls prices one of the demand incentives: against the background of the sales boom in the Krasnodar Territory, Crimean hoteliers are forced to reduce the cost, and tour operators are forced to offer New Year's discounts.

"The increase in demand for New Year's holidays in Crimea is 25-30 percent compared to last year. Mostly large popular objects are booked. We estimate the cost of placement at about the same level as last year, we do not see a strong decrease. At the same time, many facilities use dynamic pricing, which is why prices rise with increasing demand," said Irina Romanova, head of the press service of the Alean tour operator.

According to the Crimean government, at the beginning of the last week of the year, the average percentage of hotel occupancy during the New Year holidays was about 45 percent. Some facilities are 80-90 percent booked. In total, about 300 sanatoriums and hotels operate in the republic in winter. For security reasons, mass events in honor of the New Year and Christmas are not planned.