The Russians began to book tours to Abkhazia due to launching direct flights
The resumption of air traffic from Russia to Sukhum and the expansion of railway transportation warmed the interest of Russian tourists in Abkhazia. During the week, the demand for this direction grew by 10%, more than 20%added to the year of sale. In the future, part of the travelers can reorient in Abkhazia from the internal Black Sea directions, which this season faced environmental problems.
At the week 31 – April 6, Russian tourists made 10% more reservations in hotels and apartments of Abkhazia than a week earlier, calculated in the Ostrovka. The number of searches increased by 15%. In Yandex Travels and Onetwotrip, they also recorded an increase in the number of hotel sales by 10% of the week by the week. In Level.Travel, a similar increase in demand for tours to Abkhazia took place. Travelata.ru analysts say that for a year by the year their sales over the past week increased by 21%. The Russian Express tour operator recorded an increase in the number of applications for Abkhazia for the coming summer by 78.5% year by the year.
Russians are the main tourists in Abkhazia. Their share in the structure of arrival reaches 90%, says Voronin Lyubin, the head of “fly.ru”. According to the FSB border services, last year they made 5.8 million trips to the country. A year by the year, the indicator grew by 1.2%.
This year, Abkhazia, according to Ostrovka, forms 10% of foreign reservations.
The revival of interest in Abkhazia is connected with the news of the beginning of direct air traffic with Russia, according to the island. Sukhuma airport has been closed for flights since 1993. In February 2025, the Ministry of Transport of Russia said that from May this year he will again begin to accept flights. Last week, the plans were confirmed by the deputy head of the administration of the President of the Russian Federation Sergey Kiriyenko. He specified that the flights will begin on May 1. The vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel industry Dmitry Gorin suggests that in the summer the tour operator « Bibli-Globus » on the wings of IFLY can be performed in the summer.
Since April 2, against the backdrop of this news, the number of search queries for accommodation in Abkhazia increased by 30% week by week, the island noted. The representative of Onetwotrip Elena Shelekhova also notes the positive effect of the development of railway transport. Since May 1, the Lastochka electric train from the station Olympic Park in Sochi will go to Sukhum, earlier the route ended in Gagra. Oleg Kozyrev, marketing director of Travelata.ru, says that the main signal for the growth of demand is now the cancellation of the Russian Foreign Ministry recommendations to refrain from traveling to Abkhazia last fall last year due to protests in the republic (see “Kommersant” dated November 18, 2024).
Ostrovka analysts draw attention to the fact that last week, in addition to basic locations, such as Gagra, Sukhum and New Athos, interest began to grow in the less popular resorts of Abkhazia.
These are LZAA, Gudauta and Pitsunda, which showed a multiple increase in the number of requests. Although, according to Yandex Travels, Gagra and the surroundings form 48% of hotel reservations in Abkhazia for the summer of 2025, the share of Sukhum is 21%.
Abkhazia is considered a more affordable area of budget recreation than the Krasnodar Territory. According to Level.Travel, the average cost of a summer tour to the country is now 147 thousand rubles, a year by the year increased by 20%. But packet tours are still being formed on the basis of the Sochi flight program. The night in the hotels of Abkhazia for the coming summer costs an average of 6.2 thousand rubles, having added 5%to the year, they say in the Ostrovka.
Oleg Kozyrev draws attention to the fact that Abkhazia competes with Russian Black Sea directions that have encountered environmental problems. The representative of the Intourist Daria Domostroeva draws attention to the fact that more modern hotels appear in Abkhazia, which also stimulates demand.
