PLAYA PUERTO CRUZ, Venezuela – They drink rum and dance to a boombox that blasts Russian electro pop music in a dingy airport lounge. Singing “It’s Not Enough,” they enjoyed the last hours of their tropical vacation.
The visitors might be mistaken for those on spring break. They are, in fact, Russians waiting to board the last flights back to Moscow before sanctions cut their way home – their futures and those of their hosts upended by the war. Invasion of Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin.
Russian tourists have helped breathe an unlikely new life on the idyllic Venezuelan island of Margarita, once a Caribbean tourist mecca that has been devastated in recent years by the economic crisis, isolation and isolation. internationalization and pandemics. Under an agreement approved by the allied governments of the two countries, more than 10,000 Russians have visited Margarita since September on direct charter flights from Moscow, in the island’s only international connection.
The deal has provided jobs for hundreds of Margarita residents at 20 hotels, and forced the central government to improve the island’s horrendous electricity, water and petrol supplies. Endemic crime has been brought to the heel; businesses begin to reopen; residents who had migrated began to return.
The recent spike in Russian arrivals represents a fraction of the three million tourists Margarita welcomed annually at its peak in the early 2010s, but the emergence of organized international tours The first in many years gave the locals hope that they had turned the tide.
“We want to hug any foreigner who comes here,” said José Gregorio Rodríguez, head of the Chamber of Commerce in the Venezuelan archipelago state of Nueva Esparta, which includes Margarita. “When you are at zero, any improvement is welcome.”
Russians are attracted to Margarita by cheap prices, exoticism, lack of visas or pandemic restrictions and prolonged sunshine, tourists interviewed on the island in February and early March said. Tours start at $850 per person for 13 nights at an all-inclusive 3-star beach hotel, including round-trip flights from Moscow, 15 hours each way.
“It was something new, something exciting,” said Lucia Aleeva, a blogger from the city of Kazan. “In a way, we were the first explorers.”
Some Russian tourists said they booked tickets to Margarita just a day or two before their trip, knowing nothing about Venezuela, a destination attracted by its unusually low prices. Most interviewees describe themselves as small business owners or provincial workers, with many coming from state capitals as far away as Chita, a Siberian town near Mongolia. Some have never been outside of Russia; most have never been to Latin America.
Many older tourists have started their vacations the stereotypical Russian way: drinking a lot of alcohol.
Last month, Algis, who works for a construction company in Sochi, southern Russia, got sick when he stepped off a plane with layers of winter clothes in the 90-degree heat. He holds a bag of duty-free wine in one hand and a packet of broken dollar bills in the other, saying he intends to invest them in a future island marriage.
Another tourist named Andrey, a tenant of heavy equipment in the mining city of Chelyabinsk, recounted how, during a dinner filled with cheap bottles of Chilean wine, during a heavy drinking session began. in his homeland and brought up to the Moscow airport terminal and the flight. When he arrived at Margarita, he was startled when a voice announced over the plane’s loudspeaker that he had been selected to meet the Venezuelan tourism minister upon landing because he was the 10,000th Russian tourist to visit the island.
Andrey said he struggled to stand up straight for the photo.
In the sprawling Margarita resort of Sunsol Ecoland, Russians danced until the early hours at a beach disco that alternates reggaeton with Russian hits from bands like Leningrad, a foul-mouthed ska act that has romanticized the hard-living and hard-drinking achievements of the workers under them.
During daytime visits to the colonial towns of Margarita, many have marveled at the Venezuelans’ ability to maintain good spirits despite daily economic hardships.
But then on February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and the war quickly reverberated in areas far from the battlefield.
As hostilities escalated, Western countries and companies closed their airspace to Russian flights and halted leases and the supply of aviation parts. In response, Russia-focused tour operator Pegas Touristik told customers sunning themselves in Margarita that they would have to evacuate.
Many people begin to wonder what trips await them at home.
Inflation in Russia is skyrocketing; fear of shortages and hoarding is increasing; and governments are enforcing currency controls and threatening foreign companies, repeating life during Venezuela’s eight-year economic downturn, from which the South American country emerging.
“Thankfully, they have the sea and the sun,” said Yulia, a ministry employee from Moscow. “In a country like ours, it would be much harder and sadder to survive in turmoil and poverty.”
Like other Russians interviewed about Margarita since the start of the war, Yulia asked not to use her last name. None of the Russian tourists The Times spoke to would comment on the invasion, or on initial reports of civilian casualties in Ukraine. They often blame poor internet connection for not keeping up to date with the news. The Russian government even considers war a criminal offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Yulia spent her last days in Margarita on the beach reading George Orwell’s incestuous novel “1984”.
As skirmishes and international sanctions against Russia intensify, the mood at the resorts has grown increasingly somber. The purchasing power of the Russians plummeted along with the ruble, and their bank cards stopped working.
Russo-Ukrainian War: Main developments
Sunsol’s Russian guests ate their last dinner on the island in silence. The usual buzz of lively conversation and the swaying and clanking of wine glasses in the hotel’s large buffet lounge were gone, replaced by the distant sound of the rolling waves. increase.
The beach dance hall was empty. A group of Venezuelan artists danced on stage on their own, trying to cheer up their moody guests pondering impending problems.
Russia’s currency has lost about 37% of its value since the war began and hundreds of thousands of its citizens are facing unemployment, as sanctions hit companies with record speed.
A Russian association of international tour operators says Pre-orders 70% off week after the outbreak of war.
The mood of the resort staff was no less sad.
The war has dealt a heavy blow to Margarita, which is expected to welcome 65,000 Russian tourists this year. Some entrepreneurs have remodeled their idle hotels to accommodate the expected influx of guests and hired new staff, hoping that Russian flights will open the doors to other international travelers.
Wages are very low – waiters earn at least $1 a day – but the job at least provides a steady meal in a country where hunger is still rife. Since the outbreak of the war, many people have lost their jobs or had their shifts cut.
The last flight from Margarita to Moscow departed on March 8. All major Russian airlines have since stopped flying west, beyond neighboring Belarus.
Although Pegas continues to advertise Margarita tours starting in April, people who own tour businesses on the island say the route’s future is uncertain.
In the last days of the holiday, some guests said they put their trust in Mr. Putin, who has run Russia for 22 years with the support of many Russians.
“We trust our president,” said a tourist from Moscow, also named Yulia. “I don’t think we’re going to lead us to collapse.” Her husband Oleg interjected quietly, “Wow, it’s already falling apart.”
Others try to enjoy the rest of what they see as their ultimate view of the outside world.
“We decided to relax, like it was the last time,” says Ravil, a designer from Moscow. “We don’t understand if we will return to the same country we left.”
Ksenia Barakovskaya contributed reporting.
