Crimean Tourism: A Bizarre Mix
After the fall of the Soviet Union tourism on Crimea took I brief dip. But soon tourists from former Eastern Bloc countries returned. The initial Western tourists’ trickle became a modest stream after the visa regulations were eased in 2005. Now the tourism industry in Crimea is starting to look west, and it is the strange side-by-side existence of old Soviet style sanatoriums, with excessive western entertainment, that creates a unique and sometimes bizarre mix. Ranging from a 4-week-long non-stop disco party called the KaZantip Festival, to beaches littered with concrete structures; from Soviet-style spas and therapeutic mud baths to popular foam discos – anything goes…