"The organizers of regular sea lines between Sochi and Crimea are facing the challenge not only of developing another way of bringing the tourists to Crimean resorts, but of providing them with diversity of options. We believe – and it’s not the opinion of a federal body alone – that including Istanbul in these options should contribute to its [the choice's] attractiveness," Olersky said at the jubilee meeting of the Government Marine Board in Sevastopol.
According to Olersky, adding Istanbul to the cruise line will allow to build a seven-days-long cruise tour.
"For several months we have been negotiating with the Turkish officials, as at first we got a refusal… But just lately we reached an agreement that we recognized in a protocol," Olersky underlined.
In late November, Crimean Minister of resorts and tourism Sergey Strelbitsky said that the cruise line between Sochi and the peninsula's resort cities of Yalta and Sevastopol could be launched in spring 2017 within the framework of development of Russia's Crimea and Kuban resorts.
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