Russia divvies up hundreds of state-owned crimean health retreats
Russia is now divvying up hundreds of new, state-owned resorts, which were once the property of Crimea.
"After the referendum in Crimea, all government property on the territory went to the [new Russian] republic," explains a spokesperson from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Kozak, told Kommersant.
Russia has acquired 467 health spas, 232 hotels, 92 children's health camps and 517 km of beach since the annexation of Crimea. Now, authorities are splitting them up between the relevant departments. 31 billion rubles of state funds will be spent on developing tourism in the region.
The process follows a call from the Federal Tourism Agency for companies to send employees to Crimea on vacation to stop the peninsula's tourism sector from collapsing altogether. Indeed, hotels in the region depended on Ukrainian visitors for business.