Rucheik in the Crimea

Russia announced the influx of vacationers on the peninsula, but for some reason, ferries go to the Kerch crossing half empty

This year, about a million vacationers have already visited Crimea, said the Crimean Minister of Resorts and Tourism Sergey Strelbitsky. The Federal Tourism Agency issued a forecast according to which up to five million will visit the new Russian resort in 2015. These are not just numbers, it is a policy: Russia seeks to show the success of Crimea after it was rejected from Ukraine. Passions are boiling in blogs about the veracity of data, but we will pay attention to another. Only a civilized service, security guarantees and honest recognition by the authorities of existing problems, including on a ferry crossing connecting the peninsula with mainland Russia, can attract vacationers. Last year, the crossing became a lady in the tongue, collecting tens of thousands of negative responses. To assess the situation today, the correspondent of Novye reached Krasnodar to the Crimea and back.

At five in the morning, at the Krasnodar bus station, the cashier says that tickets to the port of the Caucasus are sold out for the next two flights. “You go to the driver,” the girl in the window whispers conspiratorially. Without healing the advice, I take a ticket to the next, still “not sold” flight at 12.25.

To my surprise, there are free places on the bus, and the driver now and then stops on the highway, picking up the voters. I get into the port after five in the evening. Last year, the line of cars here stretched for several kilometers. Now no more than a dozen cars are waiting for their turn, which are also constantly moving. Drivers are satisfied. “The ferries began to walk perfectly now,” says Nikolai, who is going to relax in Yalta. “But the servants are not enough, it would not hurt to establish a car service here.”

Tourist Svetlana sits with suitcases at a bus station, next to a crowded Urnoye. He believes that on the Crimean coast the service is much better than in Kuban.

“Firstly, it’s dirty here,” says Svetlana. “We are waiting for a regular bus, the toilets are paid, but the toilet, if we talk about cleanliness, you can’t call paid.”

A dozen passengers are all over the bus station. The waiting room is empty on the ferry, and only 6 cars are in the drive. In order not to be accused of bias, I shoot everything on the video. The police twice check my service certificate.

In the building of the Maritime Station, a year ago were representatives of the “Unified Transport Directorate”, who, including for the work of the ferry. But now there is silence and closed rooms without signs. Once again, the policeman who approached once again explains that claims to the work of the ferry must be made "somewhere in Kerch."

When landing on a ferry, everyone meets passport control and inspection of things. Then you need to go between the wire fences and, again, buy a ticket according to the passport. At the kiosk, where tickets are sold, a queue of four people. You have to wait only a couple of minutes. It costs 162 rubles to cross one without a car, with a car - 1190. The guard leaves the booth and forbids to shoot, referring to the authorities. Meanwhile, three webcams operate on the website of the Unified Transport Directorate, on which accumulative platforms on both shores are perfectly visible without me.

According to official figures, four ferries run between the banks. True, they do not go on a schedule, but, as stated on the information stand in the waiting room, “on loading”.

But there is no load: for the entire huge “Victory” steam, 30 passengers are hardly gaining. It took about twenty minutes to wait for departure, faster than a year ago.

Most passengers are Crimeans. Svetlana Chistova lives in Feodosia. I am pleased with the crossing: "Last year it was much more complicated, but now they waited for exactly 15 minutes and drove on a ferry." Galina Arkhipova - from the Rostov region, goes to Crimea to his parents. I also noticed the changes: “We stood for a very long time that year, it was terrible. And now they didn’t stand at all. ”

The passenger salon is working, music plays, music plays, but almost no one. You can enjoy loneliness, but the service does not allow. In the bar "Cup" coffee (half a small paper cup) costs 80 rubles.

The Republican Minister of Tourism announced a million vacationers who visited Crimea on June 12. Almost half of them (45%), according to the accounts of the tourist detention, was supposed to use the ferry crossing. In this regard, photographs of an empty ferry laid out on Facebook by me caused a hot discussion. Some commentators prove that the tourist flow is actually huge, and the cafe, the station and steam are empty, because the crossing is perfectly debugged and people do not linger. Others believe that the Russian authorities only create the appearance of well -being, but in fact, the Russians, knowing about sanctions, are not particularly striving for Crimea. Still others say that truly the season will begin only by the end of July and draw conclusions prematurely. Truth, apparently, is somewhere in the middle, but undoubtedly one thing: the real state of affairs differs from a juicy picture on Russian television channels.

The Crimean coast is more civilized, cleaner and more comfortable. From past times there have been inscriptions about Wi-Fi. Now the wire fences and armed with batons have guards in camouflage.

There are barbecue, shops, cafes, but the saleswoman miss - there are no visitors.

But a person with Baigik “Andrei Zheleznyakov” seems to be the head of the guard, asks what I shoot on a video camera, studies my certificate and offers “pass”.

“They shoot here only if the general director permits,” Zheleznyakov explains embarrassedly. The arguments about the legislation do not convince him. A policeman is also suitable. As a result, the security chief writes my last name and phone number.

Even fewer people are transported back to the mainland. However, for me the problem is not in the ferry, but in buses. It turns out that the latter leaves the port of the Caucasus at 18.20, the next will be at 10 in the morning. “It is unprofitable for them to ride, there is no one to carry,” explains taxi driver Yura. There were no hotels, like housing in general, on the Kuban side. Deaf. The only way out is to take a taxi to Krasnodar for 4 thousand rubles. Or in a thousand, but then you have to wait until the driver finds three more fellow travelers at an empty station.

Kuban - Crimea - Kuban