Early bookings have shown the 2026 season in Anapa to be a failure.

The number of tours booked to Anapa for the 2026 season has fallen by 60% compared to sales figures at the end of 2024. Hotels and other accommodations are in a crisis situation comparable to the coronavirus pandemic and require urgent government support.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," Anapa will be ready to welcome tourists next year, stated Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, announcing the waiver of the tourist tax for the year. Hoteliers stated that bookings for next summer are extremely low. Blogger Yuri Ozarovsky recorded a video message before his direct line with Putin, asking for permission to open Anapa's beaches in 2026, assuring that there are virtually no traces of fuel oil in the sea or on the shore. However, questions from Anapa were not heard during the direct line. Demand for bookings in Anapa increased during the New Year holidays, but the prospects for the 2026 resort season depend on the authorities' decision to open the beaches, tour operators indicated. It is premature to talk about a complete cleanup of the beaches from fuel oil, the scientist believes.

Both tourist traffic and revenue have fallen by more than half compared to last year. As is the occupancy rate of shared accommodation facilities, which even at the peak of the season averaged no more than 46%, and 42% for children's camps.

The scale of the crisis in the Anapa hospitality market can be compared to its situation during the coronavirus pandemic, stated Sergey Shpilko, head of the RSPP Commission on the Travel Industry and Honorary President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry.

"The only difference is that even when the authorities suspended the operation of sanatoriums and hotels, tourists continued to flock to the resort, staying in the private sector – in guest houses, rented apartments, and apartments. This year, small businesses at the resort suffered just as much, if not more, than large ones. This is partly because demand naturally shifted toward hotels with swimming pools and sanatoriums offering treatments. "But overall, for everyone—with rare exceptions—both tourist flow and revenue have fallen more than 50% compared to last year. The same applies to occupancy rates at group accommodations, which even at the peak of the season averaged no more than 46%, and at children's camps, 42%," he said at a meeting of the RSPP's relevant commission.

In his opinion, the Anapa tourism industry needs urgent assistance. "This means an urgent moratorium on bankruptcies, tax and credit holidays, a reduction in insurance premiums to 15%, and subsidies or, at a minimum, interest-free loans to supplement payroll for businesses desperately trying not to lay off their workers. Even though employment has already fallen by 17%. Without these measures, this process cannot be stopped, just like the bankruptcies and the conversion of hotels and resorts into apartment complexes, and their sell-offs, judging by the offers, are gaining momentum," Interfax-Tourism quotes him as saying. Shpilko believes that if, as regional authorities promise, work related to the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea is completed before the start of the season, the situation will begin to improve. However, everything will depend on the timing of the lifting of beach restrictions. Because early sales for next year are already underway, and they're no better than last year's.

As Sergey Romashkin, CEO of the tour operator "Dolphin," reported at a meeting, the month of early booking sales for 2026 showed a 60% decline in the number of tourists, and a 75% decline in the number of overnight stays—a more objective indicator, as hotel revenue directly depends on it. Every day of delay in clear information about the opening of Anapa's beaches means thousands of tourists are already booking their vacations elsewhere, the publication states.

So far, the authorities are silent about the 2026 season, which is already demotivating tourists accustomed to booking vacations in advance.

The closure of Anapa's beaches has had a significant negative impact on demand. In 2024, Anapa received 5.5 million tourists, and in 2025 - only about 2 million. Thus, the overall market decline in tourist flow in this direction was -64%, for some tour operators the decline could have been even greater. Tour operator Dolphin directly links the overall demand for tours across Russia to the situation in Anapa. “The results of Krasnodar Krai continue to depend on the situation in Anapa, which is not improving. Moreover, the authorized bodies are still silent about the 2026 season, which is already demotivating tourists who are used to booking their holidays in advance,” the ATOR Bulletin quoted a company representative as saying on December 23.

“Children's camps are in a difficult situation. There are 27 camps in Anapa, and although they managed to reach 40% capacity by the end of the summer, the profitability threshold was not reached. This means that we are still in the red. Moreover, the beginning of this year is more difficult for us than last year, since 2024 was quite successful, the camps had economic stability, and we are entering this year with debts. Meanwhile, a state of emergency is in effect, which is forcing camps to terminate existing contracts and not "It allows us to conclude new ones. Formally, we're not prohibited from operating, but neither regions nor individuals are purchasing travel packages right now," the Russian Union of Travel Industry quotes Artem Gavrilov, Chairman of the Krasnodar Krai Children's Camp Association, on its website.

It's unclear whether Anapa will recover next year; the uncertainty is putting significant pressure on businesses. It turns out that almost the entire city's economy depends on clean beaches and the sea, blogger Max Anapsky noted on his Telegram channel. "The last simple industries in Anapa were destroyed long ago; no one remembers them anymore, but Anapa even had a dairy plant, a bakery, and a mineral water plant, but that's about it." "The resort, construction, trade, catering, and transportation are in a state of disarray after a disastrous summer," he wrote on December 23.

Rospotrebnadzor has declared 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk district unsuitable for recreation. Signs informing people not to swim have been installed there, and announcements are also being displayed on video screens in various areas of Anapa.

In December 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences. Details can be found in 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 thematic page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".

Fuel oil pollution in the Black Sea continues; satellite images showed leaks from sunken tankers in August. Most of the fuel oil settled to the seabed, including in the area of Taman, Anapa, and the Bugay Spit, according to scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.