Russians book up Black Sea hotels following Putin’s paid leave announcement, prompting regional governor to forbid checking in

Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev has ordered all hotel room reservations and check-ins to be suspended from March 28 to April 5. The temporary ban also applies to resorts and sanitoriums, according to a document published on the website of the governor’s administration.

“Nobody’s going to kick out tourists who are already living in hotels and sanitoriums. But starting March 28, nobody should be checked in,” Kondratyev said. Krasnodar Krai includes Sochi, the resort town that hosted the 2014 Olympics and is a popular domestic vacation destination for Russians.

The governor explained on Instagram that he introduced additional limits on tourist activities and public life after a week of paid leave was announced in Russia, and would-be vacationers made plans accordingly rather than staying home. “We see that, literally one day after the head of state’s address, hotel reservations on our shores spiked, especially in Sochi,” he said. Kondratyev also ordered restaurants, cafés, bars, and malls to close for the week and public transport to run half as often.

On March 25, Vladimir Putin gave a televised address announcing new measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. One of those measures was a week of paid leave from March 30 to April 5 for all workers unable to work from home.