‘When someone wants a vacation, they don’t care’ Occupied Crimea might be a war zone, but locals are gearing up for a flood of Russian vacationers
In April, Russia’s consumer watchdog declared the oil-polluted beaches of Krasnodar Krai unfit for recreation. With vacationers likely to seek out other coastal destinations, one of the most popular alternatives remains occupied Crimea. Drones still strike the peninsula from time to time, but no one seems to worry much anymore. Oil sludge has made it there, too — though people tend to avoid talking about it. Novaya Gazeta Europe spoke with local residents working in tourism about their expectations for the coming season. Meduza shares an English-language version of the outlet’s reporting.
Compared to last year, Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-occupied Crimea, feels relatively quiet, says Angelina, a local. There are still occasional evening explosions, which the Kremlin-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, attributes in daily Telegram posts to “training exercises by air defense units using various types of weapons.” But Angelina isn’t convinced.
“The bangs aren’t that loud, but they’ve become normal,” she said. “No one pays attention anymore. There are frequent drone alerts, but we haven’t heard an actual air raid siren in a long time.” “People are used to it,” she continued. “And tourists are still coming.”
Angelina’s friend works at a hotel in the village of Ordzhonikidze, on the eastern coast of the peninsula. She said every room is booked for the May holidays — although it’s still unclear whether the guests are locals or tourists. By late April, though, plenty of people from Russia had already checked in.
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Angelina expects Crimea to have a busy summer season. “There’s that mess with [spilled] fuel oil in Anapa. People don’t want to swim there — that’s obvious. They’re saying all our beaches are clean, but I doubt they’re completely clear. People still come across oil from time to time.”
Sevastopol’s main waterfront, routinely battered by storms, still hasn’t been properly repaired either. And prices across the region are rising. In June, a standard room at a three-star hotel along Yalta’s beachfront is expected to run around 10,000 rubles ($120) per night. One-bedroom apartments and studios listed on a local site go for about 3,500 rubles ($42), while similar listings on the Russian classifieds site Avito start at 6,000 rubles ($73). Prices are lower in Yevpatoria, where apartments rent for around 2,500–4,000 rubles ($30–$48) and beachfront hotel rooms average 8,000 rubles ($97). Prices in Alushta are roughly the same.
Angelina expects housing and tourist service costs to keep rising. Still, she’s convinced that neither rising prices nor war-related risks will deter most visitors. “I think it’ll be a pretty strong season. Russian tourists don’t scare that easily. It’s probably a mentality thing — when someone wants a vacation, they just don’t care about anything else.”
‘People aren’t worried about drones anymore’
Yekaterina works at a shop along the waterfront in Sudak. Last year’s tourist season, she says, was unexpectedly busy — so much so that she worked every day from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. without breaks just to keep up with the constant flow of visitors. This summer, she’s bracing for even larger crowds.
“With the beaches in Anapa closed, we’re expecting even more people to come here this year,” she told Novaya Gazeta Europe. “Rent is going up, new businesses are popping up everywhere, people are getting creative and launching all kinds of side hustles. Pretty much everyone I know is figuring out how to make as much money as possible this summer.”
Her friends are renovating their apartments in hopes of renting them out to tourists. “Even if they don’t finish until July or August, they’ll still turn a profit. Everyone’s counting on a strong end of season, too.”
Yekaterina also brought up recent sightings of oil sludge, saying it could become a problem. “There’s something floating in the water here in Sudak. But until it warms up and everything surfaces, it’s hard to draw any conclusions. Still, people are already getting ready for the season.”
Valentina, a member of the Crimean Association of Small Hotels, says the region is expecting a strong turnout. She also believes the oil spill in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai will push tourists away from that area — and toward Crimea instead. Still, like others Novaya Gazeta Europe interviewed, she admits the peninsula hasn’t been spared entirely, though officials are trying to keep quiet about it.
On April 28, police in Alushta arrested a visiting blogger from Krasnodar Krai, Yuri Ozarovsky, after he posted footage on Telegram showing oil-stained rocks on a local beach. He was charged with “abusing the freedom of mass information” and fined 15,000 rubles (about $180). According to Ozarovsky, officials later pressured him to delete the post “to avoid public backlash.”
Valentina says tourists no longer seem as concerned about drone attacks or the general threat of war as they were in 2022 and 2023. “Everyone understands that the air defense systems work,” she said. “I think the incidents where drones rained down on people were isolated.”
Both Valentina and her colleagues report strong bookings — especially along Crimea’s western coast, which has largely avoided the oil spill. Ironically, that area also hosts the peninsula’s highest concentration of military bases. “It’s surprising,” she said. “People aren’t worried about drones anymore — clean water has become the top concern.”
