Although local companies are ready to greet tourists, the situation in Crimea is deterring many. While spring weather has melted the ice on the River Neva, leading to both early start dates for bridge openings and the sighting of seals in the river, unfolding events in Ukraine are threatening to cool things down.
The tourism industry in St. Petersburg is especially beginning to feel the effects of the situation in Crimea as potential visitors are changing their travel plans due to concerns that the unrest will spread from the Black Sea peninsula.
Although local companies are ready to welcome foreign guests, tourists are worried about visiting St. Petersburg because of the current political situation in Crimea.
According to Lyudmila Kudryavtseva, director of Baltic Travel Company, all three April trips to St. Petersburg organized by the tour agency had to be canceled and their scheduled June trip has already had half of its participants drop out. Mir Travel Agency’s trips to Kiev, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk have also been hit hard by cancellations.
According to the Svoi v Gorode restaurant group, which owns the Museum of Russian Vodka and other restaurants with arrangements with tour agencies, they have recently had three to four cancellations a day for dates in May and June, mainly by people from Finland.
Hotels are also feeling the impact. March was a successful month for the Helvetia Hotel but 65 percent of guests were Russian. Despite warning signs, Yunis Teimurkhanly, general manager of the hotel, is confident that April will be a prosperous month……..
…….According to data provided by the St. Petersburg Committee for Tourism, 6.2 million tourists visited St. Petersburg in 2013, including 3 million foreigners. 573,000 people came to St. Petersburg on cruise ships and ferries.
Source: The St.Petersburg Times - Olga Kalashnikova and Gus Peters