Travel agencies are reporting an increase in tourist traffic to Anapa amid partially open beaches.

Tourist flow to Anapa has increased by 30-40% compared to 2025, reported a representative of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. Vacationers are also staying on beaches where imported sand continues to be added, although the quality of the sand itself has drawn criticism from Telegram users.

Tour services report growing demand for vacations in Anapa

Demand for accommodation at resorts in the Krasnodar Territory has increased by 22% over the year, with Sochi, Gelendzhik, and Anapa among the top three destinations, TASS reported, citing analytics from the online accommodation booking service Sutochno.ru.

"Resorts in the Krasnodar Territory lead in the number of bookings among all Russian resorts. Demand for them has increased by 22% over the year," the service noted.

In addition to Anapa itself, demand for vacations in Vityazevo is also growing by 15-20%, the report says.

In 2026, tourist flow to Anapa increased by 30-40% year-on-year, said Sergey Romashkin, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

Full recovery of tourist flow to Anapa will likely occur only in 2027.

According to Romashkin, the beaches in Anapa have opened, people are already swimming, and beach rental companies are installing sun loungers and umbrellas, Gazeta.Ru writes.

"In January, when we opened sales for the summer season, Anapa grew by 30-40% year-on-year. This was partly due to the low base of 2025. At the same time, anticipation of the opening of the beaches in Anapa stimulated Russian tourists, and they quickly snapped up everything. Overall, Anapa's tourist numbers are currently somewhere between the 2024 and 2025 projections. In absolute terms, in a good year like 2024, Anapa would have seen around 5 million tourists, compared to approximately 2.5 million tourists in the previous year, which was disastrous due to the flood in December 2024. Full recovery in tourist flow to Anapa will likely only occur in 2027. "We expect that the resort industry, which suffered greatly last year—almost everyone operated at a loss—will finally begin to recover this year and recoup last year's losses," he is quoted as saying in the publication.

According to him, Anapa is a destination for domestic tourism; foreigners should not be expected in Anapa.

"It is extremely difficult for foreign tourists to reach Anapa. They choose hubs with well-developed air links (Moscow, St. Petersburg) or border regions in the Far East, which are conveniently accessible by plane or by crossing the border on foot or by bus," Romashkin concluded.

Tourists relax at the water's edge against a backdrop of piles of imported sand.

Bloggers are publishing photos and videos of Anapa beaches crowded with tourists. However, they say the sea water is cold today. Thus, Max Anapsky reported that the water temperature is only +17 degrees. People relax by the water and on beaches where sand is being imported.

The beaches have been destroyed; this isn't the same sand at all.

People on Paralia Beach in Vityazevo are settling in a narrow space between piles of sand and the water's edge, while trucks continue to bring in sand, writes Andrey Makovozov on his Telegram channel.

"The whole point of backfilling now is to fill one part of the beach while the other will be occupied by sun loungers. After leveling the first part, move the sun loungers there and start filling the second part of the beach. Otherwise, if we fill the entire beach, people will simply have nowhere to relax," he writes.

"The beaches have been destroyed; this isn't the same sand at all. After filling, it's some kind of hard ground," Pavel Krasotin commented on this post.

Yuri Ozarovsky  in his The Telegram channel also posted a photo of beachgoers in Vityazevo crowded near the water against a backdrop of sand piles.

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. Which beaches are ready for visitors and which are dangerous is described in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Anapa Beaches: Open and Dangerous Zones".

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".