Mt. Elbrus is safe for tourists once again
Recently the counter-terrorist security measures were suspended in Elbrus region and part of Baksan region. The safety measures were introduced on 20 February this year after a band of guerillas attacked a tourist bus, causing three deaths. After that a bomb destroyed a ski-lift pillar and a car, full of explosives, was found near one of the hotels.
The establishment of counter-terrorist measures mingled the plans for many tourists, who enjoy Mt. Elbrus. Irina Beletskaya, head of the Russian department of Jet Travel, said in an interview to RATA?news that the category of tourists, who were used to spending their vacation in this region, is quite large. “They are mostly people, who genuinely love the mountains. In early November-December they come to Elbrus and during winter they switch to the Alps. This season during the November holidays we had numerous calls from concerned tourists, who asked when the region will be available again. So we are very happy that it happened at last”, said Irina Beletskaya.
But it seems the demand will not be restored very fast. “People are cautious, no one want to take risks. And you can’t expect the tourist flow to come back in full strength the next day after the restrictions were removed. The destination needs time to attract tourists once more. And according to our data not all the facilities are ready to receive guests. For instance, all the ski-lifts, that were stopped due to safety measures, still have to be restarted”, - explained Mrs. Beletskaya.
Hotels in the region kept the prices at last year’s level. The ski-lifts will probably follow the suit. “The daily ski-pass on Mt. Elbrus costs 1000 roubles. That’s not cheap, but in Dombai that’ll cost you 1200 roubles and in Krasnaya Polyana – 1500 roubles. But it’s worth mentioning that some hotels near Mt. Elbrus offer 20% discounts on ski passes for their guests”, - noted Irina Beletskaya.
“Aurora Intour” also noticed a burst of interest towards this region. “Calls are still scarce, but the situation is better than before. We hope that the sales will go up in the near future and plan to exceed our quotas at the local hotels. Prices for accommodation are already posted on our website – they are mostly identical to the previous year’s ones. Only few hotels have slightly raised their price tags”, - said Tatiana Karpets, manager of the domestic travel department.
Most popular hotels include “Ozone”, “Snow Leopard”, “Wolfram”, “Cheget” and “Elbrus”. In December, for instance, a night at the “Snow Leopard” will cost 1250 roubles during workdays and 1500 roubles during weekends. That is for one person in a standard DBL room with the buffet table included. New Year’s holydays (6 days-5 nights) will cost 11.5 thousand roubles per person, excluding transportation costs.