Foreign Travel Agencies Sell Tours To Crimea Albeit Sanctions - Regional Lawmaker

Foreign travel agencies sell tours to Crimea in spite of sanctions, the chairman of the Crimean parliament's tourism committee, Alexey Chernyak, said on Monday

SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2019) Foreign travel agencies sell tours to Crimea in spite of sanctions, the chairman of the Crimean parliament's tourism committee, Alexey Chernyak, said on Monday.

"Crimea is gaining momentum, and, as far as I know, many foreign travel agencies sell tours to Crimea, sidestepping the sanctions. They may write that those are simply 'business trips' and not for tourism purposes, but many of the travel agencies in Europe in a good way put Crimea on sale," Chernyak said, adding that the largest number of Western tourists come to Crimea from Germany.

Since January, more than 100,000 foreign tourists - including over 4,000 from the European Union and the United States - have visited the Crimean Peninsula, according to Chernyak.

Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, when 97 percent of those who participated in the referendum on the matter supported reunification. The reunification has not been recognized by Ukraine or Western states, which have subsequently imposed economic and political sanctions on Moscow and Crimea. Russia has repeatedly stated that the referendum was conducted in compliance with international law.