The tourist flow to the resorts of the Caucasus is comparable to world levels, said a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry

The tourist flow to the ski resorts of Arkhyz and Dombay, as well as to the hydrotherapy resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, is constantly growing and is comparable to the level of the world's leading resorts.

Last year, the Stavropol Territory received about 8.5 million tourists, the vast majority of them vacationed in the Caucasian Mineral Waters.

European balneological resorts are losing Russian tourists, which leads to the closure or change of the work profile of some sanatoriums, while the occupancy of Kavminvod sanatoriums is growing.

MOSCOW, October 5 - RIA Novosti. The tourist flow to the ski resorts of Arkhyz and Dombay, as well as to the hydrotherapy resorts of the Caucasian Mineralnye Vody, is constantly growing, it is comparable to the level of the world's leading resorts, Sergei Nuppa, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Mineralnye Vody, told RIA Novosti.

“I would call it controversial the statement that our resorts are not comparable with the world’s leading resorts in terms of tourist flow,” Nuppa said, answering the agency’s question about why the ski resorts of Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as the hydrotherapy resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, are not yet comparable in terms of foreign tourist flow with the world’s leading resorts.

The diplomat cited data from the Ministry of Tourism of the Stavropol Territory, according to which last year the region received about 8.5 million tourists, the vast majority of them vacationed in the Caucasian Mineral Waters.

“The vast majority of them are our fellow citizens who vacationed at the Caucasian Mineral Waters, a balneological resort in Russia. Apparently, these include those tourists who, until 2022, vacationed at the balneological resorts of Baden-Baden and Karlovy Vary and who were actually denied access after the EU introduced stricter visas and a ban on air traffic with our country,” the diplomat said.

At the same time, the tourist flow of Western resorts is decreasing, the agency’s interlocutor emphasized.

“Now the balneological resorts of Europe are literally in disaster: due to the loss of Russian tourists, some of the sanatoriums in the Karlovy Vary region of the Czech Republic were forced to close or change their work profile, and in total thousands of companies stopped working there,” the diplomat noted.

He clarified that the occupancy of existing Kavminvod sanatoriums is constantly growing, including due to guests from other countries.

“The vast majority of foreign holidaymakers are traditionally from countries - former republics of the Soviet Union. The most important role in this is played by the availability of direct flights to Mineralnye Vody and many years of work on developing the infrastructure of the Caucasus Mineral Waters,” Nuppa emphasized.

The diplomat also announced an increase in tourists to the ski resorts of Arkhyz and Dombay, noting that in 2025 the resorts of Karachay-Cherkessia were visited by almost 2.5 million people.