Nineteen thousand Russians celebrated the New Year in the sky on the boards of 90 aircraft of domestic airlines. In total, 3.5 million tourists went on vacation around the country for the New Year holidays, 700 thousand people went abroad.
The New Year holidays in Russia this year were held against the background of a severe cold snap. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the minimum temperature values for January were recorded for the entire period of instrumental observations in the country. And although in digital terms (up to 30 degrees below zero), we cannot call this temperature completely abnormal for Russia, all responsible infrastructure services and departments that have experienced many local disasters these days rested precisely on the “anomaly” of the frost that has set in.
Sheremetyevo Airport: “There may be delays in passenger, baggage and airline services due to abnormally low air temperatures for more than two days. Sheremetyevo Airport apologizes to passengers for the inconvenience caused by abnormally low temperatures.”
The most significant accident occurred in the Sverdlovsk region. There, before the New Year, on December 28, several Finist electric trains, import-substituted analogues of the Swallow, were launched with fanfare. On January 4, the climate control system broke down on one of them, en route from Kachkanar to Yekaterinburg, after which the electric train stopped in the suburbs of Nizhny Tagil. Passengers were sent to their destination on a backup “Swallow”. And then the Sverdlovsk Railway announced that “the first electric trains ES104 (Finist. – Note “AN”) immediately began to be operated on routes with high passenger traffic in difficult weather conditions – in frost and heavy snowfall.”
A less significant, but more voluminous collapse occurred on the morning of the same January 4 in the Chelyabinsk region. Six trains have accumulated on the Kunashak – Muslyumovo stage due to a breakdown of the Adler – Nizhnevartovsk train locomotive. The situation was resolved only in the evening. Russian Railways has promised bonuses to all those stuck in a railway traffic jam.
January 5th. Yaroslavl region. A message from the press service of the Northern Railway. “On January 5, passenger trains on the Northern Railway are delayed for technical reasons as of 17:50 (Moscow time): No. 375 Vorkuta – Moscow – for 2 hours 47 minutes; No. 67 Abakan – Moscow – for 2 hours 3 minutes; No. 103 Yaroslavl – Moscow – for 2 hours 6 minutes. Also, a number of passenger trains run with a delay of 15 to 50 minutes.”
On the same day, the Swallow, en route from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow, got up in the Moscow region, in Electric cars, without reaching the final destination.
Let’s repeat, frosts in Russia in winter are not a supernatural anomaly, but a climatic norm, and it’s kind of strange to write off all the troubles on them.
Before or after, that’s the question.
The tourist organized business spent the whole New Year’s week discussing an interview published on January 2 in a profile publication with the head of a large tour operator, Yana Muromova. The interview was published under the headline: “Will major tour operators follow Biblio-Globus?” Recall that the tour operator (TO) Biblio-Globus was the first on the market to introduce a post-commission payment system with travel agents (TA). We wrote that a large number of travel agents did not like this system, and it even came to a boycott, travel agents do not sign a contract and, accordingly, do not sell the tourist product of this. We will not delve too much into the details of the relationship between THIS and THAT, this is an internal matter of the travel business, but we will give a few general estimates from this interview: “30% of agents are for the post-commission scheme. But 70% are against it so far. And no major tour operator will want to “bring down” most of the retail segment, although we understand that a significant part of these 70% is in the shadow zone,” Yana Muromova believes.
It is one thing when AN-Tourism claims that the Russian tourist organized business is one solid gray area, another is when the figures, although estimated, are given by a representative of the travel business.
To Hainan without a visa
As soon as Aeroflot flew direct flights to the Chinese resort island of Hainan at the end of December, the Russian travel business immediately declared that visa-free entry to the island was possible only as part of an organized tourist group, so buy vouchers, and you will be happy. AN-Tourism did not comment on these statements until independent travelers’ stories appeared on the Web that the statements of the travel business, to put it mildly, do not correspond to reality.
Any citizen of the Russian Federation who has bought a ticket for a direct flight (from outside the PRC) to the island at Sanya airport and booked a hotel has the right to a 30-day stay on the island (without the right to travel to the mainland). As a matter of fact, reports from independent travelers on the Hainan visa-free regime did not have to wait long, the first one was published on January 2. Among the travelers’ life hacks, we note the recommendations to make a printout of the hotel reservation confirmation in Chinese.
Striptease at the border is postponed
In the 12th package of anti-Russian sanctions adopted by the European Union, several lines are devoted to the personal belongings of Russians, who threatened to be taken away at customs all autumn: “Member states may allow the importation into the Union of personal items that do not pose serious problems to circumvent sanctions, such as personal hygiene items or clothing worn by travelers or which is in their luggage, and which are clearly intended for strictly personal use by them or their family members,” the text of the document says.. However, we already know that everything will depend on the interpretation of sanctions by the EU member states, so we are not relaxing.
Partial Schengen
At the beginning of December last year, Romania and Bulgaria failed to join the Schengen area due to the objections of the Netherlands and Austria, but by the end of the year the differences were overcome, albeit in a truncated form: border controls will be lifted only from the air and sea borders from March 31, 2024. The land border between the countries will remain. According to the estimates of the Romanian Interior Ministry, the prospect of abolishing the land border is possible in 2025.
The question of whether Romania and Bulgaria will now be able to issue Schengen visas to foreigners has not yet been clarified.
Tourist taxes
The Bulletin of ATOR has prepared a memo on where taxes from tourists will be collected in 2024 or the rate of such collection will be increased. Let’s note the most “outstanding” examples. For example, the tourist tax in Amsterdam is already the highest in Europe, but in 2024 it will be increased from 7.5% to 12.5%. The fee rate for cruise ship passengers will also rise: Instead of 8 euros, travelers will pay 11 euros per day. The tax rate on living in Paris will increase significantly, three times, they say, because of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games, which will be held in the French capital from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
It is planned (not for the first year, but this spring it seems for sure) to introduce an entrance fee to the historical center of Venice in the amount of 5 euros. In Bali, from February 14, tourists will pay an entry tax in the amount of 150 thousand Indonesian rupees (approximately 10 US dollars). In St. Petersburg, tourists will be charged a resort fee from April 1 this year – 100 rubles per day of stay in hotels in the city. There will be no resort fee for the first day of arrival.
The most crowded beaches in the world
Sledges, as you know, need to be cooked in the summer. Therefore, it already does not hurt to study the selection of the Florida Panhandle edition, which, based on user reviews on the Tripadvisor platform, studied the loading of the most popular beaches in the world last year. The results of the study turned out to be interesting. Five of the 10 busiest beaches in the world are in Spain. In addition, only the beaches of European countries are in the top ten: France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.
The busiest beach in the world is named Cala Agulla in Mallorca. The second busiest one in the list is another representative of Spain – Levant Beach in Salou. In third place in terms of population is Port Grimaud on the Cote d’Azur in France. La Cinta beach (Spiaggia La Cinta) in Sardinia is on the fourth line, two more Spanish beaches are on the fifth and sixth places: Cala Gran and Cala Domingos in Majorca. On the seventh line was the Greek Koukounaries Beach on the island of Skiathos. The eighth place in the ranking of the busiest users was given to the Blue Lagoon beach in Malta. The Cypriot Fig Tree Bay in Protaras was on the ninth line. The Granadella beach (Playa La Granadella) in Spain closes the TOP 10.
Beaches, of course, are not only in Europe. For example, Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, is considered the busiest beach in the United States, and Byron Bay Beach is in Australia. In the Dominican Republic, the busiest beach is Playa Publica Dominicus in Bayaiba. Playa La Entrega beach on the west coast of Mexico has been named the busiest beach in the entire North American continent. In South America, the first busiest place is at Playa Grande beach in the Colombian town of Taganga. Kep Beach in Cambodia has been named the most crowded beach in Asia. And Pereybere Beach in Mauritius is the busiest beach in Africa, according to tourists.
Invitation to partnership – t.me/snn1964
Источник: argumenti.ru
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