OREANDA-NEWS  The Republic of Crimea broke the record for the tourist flow for the post-Soviet period, taking from the beginning of this year 6,164 million tourists, said Tuesday Minister of resorts and tourism of the region Vadim Volchenko at a meeting of the Crimean government.

"To date, on October 9, we have received 6 164 000 tourists, which is 29% higher than the same period last year. To date, the number of tourists in Crimea has reached record levels for the entire post-Soviet period. The previous high was recorded in 2012, 6.1 million people," he said.

According to this information, 16% of the total tourist flow arrived in the first 9 months of this year in the Crimea across the border with Ukraine, which is 17% more than in the whole of 2017.

Earlier it was reported that in 2017 the tourist flow to the Crimea on the background of the opening for Russian tourists of Turkey decreased by 3.2% to 5.39 million people. In 2016, the Peninsula received 5.6 million tourists, in 2015 - 4.6 million.

The authorities attribute the growth of tourist flow to the Peninsula with the launch of the Crimean bridge, the introduction of a new airport complex Simferopol, good weather and lower prices in hotels.

According to Volochenko, " thanks to the successful holiday season in the first half of the year of the Crimean budget from the tourism industry received 1.17 billion rubles, which is 26.6% more than in the same period last year."

"According to expert estimates, the average amount that a tourist spends on vacation in the Crimea is from 44 thousand rubles to 90 thousand rubles. Thus, for the first nine months of this year, the total flow of tourists has created a turnover of about 400 billion rubles," he said.

He noted that 42% of the total expenses are spent on accommodation and food, 24% - on entertainment, 22% - on travel and 12% - on Souvenirs. Volchenko noted that, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Health of the Republic, the share of tourism in the total amount of tax revenues in the region for the first nine months will be 8%.