The resumption of flights from Russia to Croatia and Montenegro is possible in the near future.
“Croatia has opened the receipt of visas, Montenegro does not introduce visas. I am sure that both Croatia and Montenegro will soon receive appointments for flights from Russia, ”Yuri Barzykin, Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, said in a conversation with TASS on April 17.
According to him, the flow of tourists to these countries cannot be compared with the volume of tourists preferring holidays in Turkey, therefore “there is no real substitute for today.”
Barzykin also added that in the summer season of 2021, several Mediterranean countries are expected to open for Russian tourists.
Since April 15, Russia has limited air traffic with Turkey and Tanzania until June 1 due to the worsening situation with coronavirus infection in these countries. As the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova clarified, the Russians bring from this country a variety of strains of COVID-19 and 80% of cases of COVID-19 came from Turkey.
A day later, on April 16, Aleksan Mkrtchyan, general director of the Pink Elephant travel agency network, told Izvestia that literally overnight after the news of Turkey’s closure, prices for holidays in Russian resorts rose. According to him, in the Crimea, the rise in prices for recreation amounted to 20-30%, in the Krasnodar Territory – 10-15%. He clarified that about half of the tourists who, due to restrictions, did not go to Turkey, reoriented to Russia. As a result, the Crimea and Krasnodar Territory in April-May will receive about 100 thousand more travelers than planned.