Anapa has overtaken Sochi in the number of tour bookings for the May holidays.
Sochi has lost its lead to Anapa in the number of May holiday tour bookings, according to tourism industry representatives. According to them, the situation in Sochi is having a greater impact on booking dynamics than the oil spill zone.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in Anapa, amid government announcements about the imminent reopening of beaches, hotel bookings are on the rise. However, tourism industry representatives, like local residents, are cautious about the prospects for the start of the holiday season. Bookings in Anapa are brisk at hotels where beach vacations are not the main focus, tour operators reported.
Work to replenish beaches with new sand should be completed by the start of the beach season, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister stated. He added that if the work goes according to plan, the beaches will be open by June 1. Environmentalists, however, believe that it is too early to talk about the suitability of the beaches for receiving tourists as the sunken parts of the tankers carrying fuel oil have not yet been raised, and residual pollution remains on the sand.
Anapa has taken first place in the number of tour bookings for the May holidays, overtaking Sochi, which previously held the leading position in this direction, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported today on its website, a publication highlighted by Kommersant.
"Sochi's share of bookings in the Krasnodar Territory for the long spring weekend is 36%, Anapa's - 46%," the publication quotes a representative of the National Tour Operator ALEAN as saying.
In turn, a representative of the company "MultiTour" noted that in 2025, 15-17% of May bookings in Sochi bookings were made 1-2 weeks before the trip. Therefore, the company expects the destination to reach its May 2025 figures in 2026.
PEGAS Touristik has similar observations. According to their data, a trend of "last-minute bookings" has been observed in recent years, so the company expects the number of bookings, as last year, to increase closer to the May holidays.
However, according to tourism industry representatives, the situation in Sochi has a greater impact on booking dynamics than in Anapa. They point to unstable airport operations and rising tour prices.
Sochi, like other resort towns in Kuban, regularly finds itself in the zone of drone attacks. For example, on September 24, 2025, when two people were killed in a drone and unmanned boat attack in Novorossiysk and Tuapse, people in Gelendzhik and Sochi were ordered to leave the beaches. However, in Sochi, some vacationers returned to the sea. People in coastal areas risk becoming accidental victims in attacks, so the evacuation of vacationers from the beaches was justified, experts noted.
Tourists have increasingly chosen more affordable alternatives, including Anapa.
"Prices for vacations in Sochi during the May holidays have increased this year. The cost of vacations there was already quite high, and even a small increase has led to tourists increasingly choosing more affordable alternatives, including Anapa. "Sochi hotel occupancy has fallen, forcing some hoteliers to make concessions and adjust prices to avoid being left without guests," explained a Coral Travel representative.
According to him, in May, tourists "choose not so much swimming as a leisurely seaside resort vacation and good hotel infrastructure," the publication states.
As a reminder, on February 1, Sochi authorities reported successful tourism results for the first month of 2026 – according to their estimates, the city received almost 685,000 tourists in January. Meanwhile, tourism industry representatives gave a less optimistic assessment of the situation, noting a decline in demand for vacations in the Krasnodar Krai and a crisis in domestic tourism in Russia.
Following the fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait, Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) declared 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk District unsuitable for recreation. In 2025, following the fuel oil spill, 60% fewer tourists visited Anapa than in 2024, while demand for other resorts in the Krasnodar Krai and Dagestan increased. Some tourists went to Anapa only because hotels were forced to offer significant discounts. Due to a record drop in revenue, Anapa's sanatoriums and children's camps are teetering on the brink of closure. On December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. A crew member from one of the tankers died. Additionally, an oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the Caucasian Knot report "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait." Caucasian Knot has compiled materials on the "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait" page.