Limited by the war in Ukraine, Russian tourists rediscover the paradises of Venezuela

Dimitri Bobkov tries to keep up with a merengue playing at a gas station in Margarita, an island in Venezuela that you visit for the first time like thousands of Russians who found in this country a paradise away from the war in Ukraine.

Bobkov bursts out laughing when his Venezuelan tour guides encourage him to dance in “little train”.

“I was lucky to celebrate my birthday here in Venezuela, which was very unexpected and pleasant,” the 31-year-old university professor, who arrived 10 days ago, told AFP. “Here I like the people, the food, the nature, the climate. I think maybe in another life I was in Venezuela”.

Dimitri took advantage of that direct connection of the Russian airline Norwind between Moscow and Margarita, as part of an agreement between these allied countries.

Cheaper

The route was reactivated on 2 October after a seven-month interruption due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Welcome” written in Russian reads the runway of Margarita International Airport, where nearly 3,000 tourists from Russia have arrived in the last two months, becoming the main market for this island that was once a tourist reference in the Caribbean.

After the invasion of Ukraine, which began nine months ago, Russians have travel restrictions. The connection with Venezuela also had to be modified to avoid flying over the airspace restricted by the sanctions of the United States, Europe and Canada.

“By far, the hardest thing is a war,” says Ekaterina Dolgova, a 39-year-old medical supplies seller, who nonetheless argues that although punitive measures against her country bring “hardship,” “to say it’s a nightmare and a horror, no.”

Ekaterina is an exception in Margarita’s mass of tourists who completely avoid talking about the armed conflict for fear of getting into trouble. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest supporters argue that the president is “all right”… but still choose not to declare.

Ekaterina chose Venezuela on the advice of her sister who works in the tourism sector. “There are not many destinations available for Russia at the moment (…), it’s hard to find vacation spots.”

Among his options was Egypt, a country he has visited twice, but decided to rule out because the treatment of Russians “has changed” after the invasion and “it’s no longer comfortable”.

Margarita has become an attractive destination thanks to its direct connection –14 hours of flight– and because it is more accessible: it is more “cheaper” for example than going to Sochia summer resort in southern Russia, says Sergei Katch, who paid more than $3,500 for a 12-day package.

His wife Irina, 50, is struck by cacti and pelicans, as well as the turquoise sea and white sand. “What bright colors”, she expresses during a safari-like jeep ride in an uninhabited area of ​​Margarita, full of this arid vegetation, far from the big hotels.

He doesn’t stop taking pictures.

In Russian

The tour is part of the tour package they acquired in a Russian agency working in alliance with another Venezuelan. There is Dimitri, as well as Sergei, who has learned to say “I love you Venezuela” in Spanish, a language he, like most Russians, does not speak.

Not even English and communication is mostly aided by a mobile phone translator.. The tour guide speaks Russian and at each station it tells the story of the hills, mountains and beaches of this area.

Meanwhile, another guide serves them Venezuelan rum.

Russian tourists usually stay in hotels that include catering services, many of which are dedicated to “Russifying” their services, with notices in Russian and at least one interpreter. They don’t normally go out without a guide to avoid being targeted by crime.

The rise of this tourism has had a “direct” impact on Margarita’s economy, explains Viviana Vethencourt, president of the Nueva Esparta State Chamber of Tourism, which covers this and two other islands. There are no statistics, but she assures that “improvements” are starting to be seen.

Nacarid, a jewelry and bathing suit dealer, tries to negotiate with a Russian, who gestures to ask her to halve the price. Lost Sale: “They are very setters”he complains.

However, he accepts, “it sells, not as much as before”, in the golden age of the island, full of European and North American tourism, then shaken by years of economic and political crisis.

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, sees tourism as the “secret weapon” of the economyshowing timid signs of recovery after years of recession and hyperinflation, and has signed an agreement with Russia, a strong ally, to welcome around 100,000 tourists until December 31st.

The packages include the possibility to also visit the Canaima National Park, with the highest waterfall in the world; the island of Coche, also in Nueva Esparta; or Caracas, where Dimitri for example went to the mausoleum of the late former president Hugo Chávez and played football with the children in a slum.

He was impressed: “It will probably stay in my memory for the rest of my life.”

AFP agency

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