Sawt Falasteen - Ukrainian drones send Crimea's tourism industry into freefall

His shop would typically sell up to 400 ice creams a day. But a series of Ukrainian strikes on the peninsula this summer has seen the visitors dry up.

"The season is completely ruined, it's practically non-existent," he told AFP from Simeiz, a beachside community of around 2,500 people.

Once a magnet for millions of Russian holidaymakers each year, Crimea's tourism industry has collapsed in recent months, as Ukrainian drone attacks have starved the peninsula of electricity and fuel.

Hotel bookings have fallen more than 70 percent compared to last July, while restaurants and swimming pools lie empty.

The Russian government has pledged to support the sector, offering a one-time payment to tourism workers equivalent to three months' salary, but the amount is based on the minimum wage and is not a long-term fix.

Anatoli said he was now trying to make ends meet on just a fraction of his former business.

"We're still carrying on, because everything had been prepared in advance: the equipment, the repairs, the licence, the taxes," he said.

- Empty loungers -

With its abundance of cicadas, plentiful sunshine a year and verdant olive groves, Crimea's southern coast is in many ways more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than much of Russia, which seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Generations of Russians spent their holidays on the peninsula during the Soviet era, many of whom regard Crimea as an integral part of their country.

One luxury hotel in Simeiz –- whose managers did not wish to be named –- said it was offering 30 per cent discounts to bring the tourists back.

"At the weekend it gets busier, but otherwise..." one hotel manager said, trailing off.

AFP saw walkways, sun loungers and a restaurant terrace at the hotel deserted.

Ukrainian attacks have killed more than a dozen people on the peninsula since the beginning of June, including a child, according to Russian-installed authorities.

Drone strikes on Crimea's electrical substations have meanwhile triggered power outages, including in the largest city of Sevastopol, while Russian-installed authorities suspended fuel sales last month amid strikes on oil depots.

- 'No-one's safe' -

Some tourists were undeterred, despite the danger.

Yulia said she was visiting Simeiz from Belgorod -- a Russian region that borders Ukraine and has itself been the target of Ukrainian strikes

The night before, a Ukrainian drone crashed into a block of flats a few kilometres away from Simeiz, wounding 17 people, according to officials.

"I heard a drone twice and that was it," she said.

"The reason we've come is that we're not afraid. Everyone I know is writing to me, asking me how we weren't afraid to come here."

She came with her family on a train that crosses the Kerch Bridge -- the only practical route into Crimea from Russia, as the road via Russian-occupied Ukraine has become too dangerous due to Ukrainian drone strikes.

Fellow tourist Vladislav, who arrived by road from the Russian region of Krasnodar, said he had brought jerry cans filled with petrol in case he was unable to find fuel.

Like Yulia, he said he was not worried, having become accustomed to the regular buzz of drones.

Ukraine often fires hundreds of drones into Russia each night, in retaliation for Russia launching hundreds of drones at Ukrainian towns and cities.

"Look, they fly over us too," said Vladislav.

"They fly overhead, whether we're waking up in the morning -- at 7 am even -- or when we're going to bed, they're always flying about. So no-one's safe."

- 'Business is suffering' -

Ukraine says the strikes are aimed at pressuring Moscow into peace talks.

Moscow began its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, and has regularly struck its neighbour, including from the Crimean peninsula.

The Russian government has pledged more than 4.3 billion rubles ($54 million) in one-time payments to employees in the sector, including travel agents, tour operators and restaurateurs.

But the payments only apply to tourism.

Lilia, a holidaymaker from an area north of Sevastopol, said the private sector was "struggling".

"I know people who run a driving school. It's completely at a standstill because of the high price of petrol," she told AFP, sitting on a beach in Simeiz.

"Business is suffering, of course it is."

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST