Crimea opens holiday season, says Mohyliov

Crimean Prime Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov has said that the holiday season in Crimea in fact has already opened and that the Crimean authorities expect a big tourist flow, especially on International Workers' Day holidays.

"The holiday [season] has already started in Crimea. According to the Crimean Resorts and Tourism Ministry, sales of tourist vouchers [for resorts in Crimea] are better than last year, which was a peak year according to the number of tourists," Mohyliov said at the end of the sitting of council of ministers in Simferopol on Tuesday.

Referring to data from tourist operators, he reported that 25% more places in health and resort centers have been bought for the May holidays this year compared to 2012.

"We're intensively promoting the resorts in Crimea, extending the season from the summer months to September-November, April-May, increasing the resort component. Secondly, there will be a lot of bank holidays in May," the prime minister said.

According to him, an especially big flow of tourists is expected from Russia.

Crimean Resorts and Tourism Minister Oleksandr Liyev, in turn, said that according to Russian tourist operators, trips to Crimea for the May holidays are popular in sales.

"Today demand for them has grown by nearly a quarter compared to the last year. This is due to the string of [May] holidays, as well Crimea's preparing 169 health and resort centers and 197 hotels for the May holidays. Last year only 140 health and resort centers and 163 hotels took in such holidaymakers," the minister said.

He said that 255,000 people had holidayed in Crimea since the beginning of this year, which was 29% more than in the same period last year.

As Liyev said, according to reports from hotels, their occupancy is considerably grown even now, and many hotels have already sold rooms for the peak of the season in Crimea.