Chechnya: resort opening surprises local residents

The resorts "Veduchi", "Kezenoy Am" and "Sernovodsk" in Chechnya were opened as part of the third phase of lifting restrictive measures introduced because of coronavirus. Local residents treat it inappropriate to open resorts under restrictions on entry to and exit from the republic.

"Since certain restrictive measures are still in force, we rely primarily on domestic tourism," said a source from the Chechen Ministry for Tourism.

According to his story, all current restrictions related to coronavirus apply to all the arrivals from other regions of Russia.

The locals interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent believe that opening resorts while maintaining restrictions on the borders of Chechnya is not reasonable, while it's not worth relying on mass domestic tourism now.

"They need to open borders and let tourists in; otherwise the authorities will have to forcibly send state servants and budget-funded employees there, as they send them to subbotniks or other mass events. Now people have no time for rest; they need to improve their financial situation after three months of forced idling," a local named Lechi is convinced.

"Only officials and law enforcers can afford to have vacations at our resorts; while the vast majority of local people can't pay such prices," said Luckman, a local resident.

"Prices at our resorts are simply unaffordable for most ordinary citizens," said Akhmad from Grozny.