You're reading: Crimea sees record growth in tourist flow

In the first nine months of 2012, some 5.7 million tourists spent holidays in Crimea, which was 7.1% up year-over-year.

As Resorts and Tourism Minister of Crimea Oleksandr Liyev reported at a sitting of the presidium of the Supreme Council on the preliminary results of a 2012 holiday season in Crimea, “this is a record, since similar number of tourists visited Crimea over the last whole year.”

According to him, this year the number of Russian tourists holidaying in Crimea grew. This year Russians accounted for 25% of all tourists, compared to 21% last year. In particular, Liyev said that the number of Russians rose from 1.42 million in 2011, to 1.52 million this year.

The number of tourists from CIS countries was 4% of the general flow, where 2% are Belarusian tourists.

As the minister reported, the number of tourists from Europe fell. For example, last year it was 2%, while this year only 1.2%. Most of the European tourists came from the Baltic States and Poland.

According to the findings of a poll conducted by the Crimean Resorts and Tourism Ministry in August 2012, 91% of tourists would like to spend holiday in Crimea again, while 3% do not wish to come back to Crimea for holidays.

Moreover, 56% of tourists spent holidays with their families this year, the minister said.

According to him, 59% of tourists still consider Crimea a beach resort compared to the last year (65%).

“The number of people, who consider Crimea a beach resort is falling, and for the first time for 20 years the number of people who came to Crimea for health treatment is growing,” Liyev said.

The Crimean minister reported that in the first nine months of 2012, revenues from tax from the tourist enterprises to the budgets of all levels was UAH 258.8 million, which was 25.9% more year-over-year.

He also said that the formation of a list of Crimean beach zones is being completed.