Demand for tours to Anapa has almost doubled amid the unresolved problem with beaches.

Despite the authorities' failure to fully prepare Anapa's beaches for the season, demand for vacations in the resort town has nearly doubled, and the beaches themselves are already teeming with tourists.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," the resort season in Anapa opened amid a stark contrast in coastal conditions. Some beaches are open and deemed safe, while others are closed due to erosion, unstable soil, and environmental risks. On June 7, volunteers reported on the purchase of special nets to contain petroleum products using funds raised through express collection. Volunteers from the Tyumen headquarters in Tuapse will install them in the sea.

Over the past week, demand for tours to Anapa has almost doubled – reaching 80% compared to the same period last year, noted Sergey Romashkin, Vice President of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), as quoted by Interfax on June 8.

So far, there has been no sharp increase in prices for tours to either Anapa or Sochi. Prices in Anapa are gradually rising amid news about the beaches opening, but they're being very cautious – hotel owners are trying not to scare off tourists, Romashkin explained.

In Anapa, most of the beaches are still closed to tourists – of the 40 kilometers of sandy coastline, only small, isolated stretches in Vityazevo and the area from the Medical Beach to Bimlyuk are open to tourists. The start of the summer season in Anapa has resulted in a heated standoff between businessmen and government officials. Hoteliers are concerned, as the long June holidays are just days away, according to the Russian online travel publication CountryScanner.

"We expect peak occupancy by June 12th. There won't be enough room for vacationers in the hotels near the pools. How can we look people in the eye and explain why, after a year and a half, the beaches haven't been prepared for their arrival?" "— the publication quoted one businessman as saying.

Anapa's beaches are already overflowing with vacationers, and no one is even thinking about the environmental disaster and fuel oil emissions. There's no end to the tourists, even though the resort season on the Black Sea coast opened just a week ago, Nasha Gazeta Novorossiysk noted on its website on June 8.

The publication also published a video showing one of Anapa's beaches. The footage shows tourists—some swimming in the water, others on the beach. The beach is densely packed.

As a reminder, on December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. A crew member from one of the tankers died as a result. In addition, an oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait".

Materials on the consequences of the fuel oil spill have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".

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