Originally Posted by
arlflyer
Just curious if anyone could provide any reports from on the ground out there. CNN/BBC report was getting some good airtime here this week, showing photos of vastly cleaned up beaches and en masse shutdowns of illegal development. And the operations against the taxi folks seem to have stuck. Looks all positive in my book - just curious if anyone who is actually there has anything of interest to add. I trust the words of a Flyertalker over mainstream news sources any day!
Headed that way for the first time at the end of this year and between these actions and the much-covered slowdown in Russian tourism, I'm hoping it might be like a throwback to the old days!
I cannot comment in detail. Or, I mean I am not brave enough to.
There has been a definite attempt to change things. Beach chairs and other structures have been removed from the beaches. But who knows how long that will last. Taxi mafia have been charged in court. It's hard to say how that will play out. But, it hasn't changed the extortionate and protectionist policies such as prices, taxis claiming zones as theirs, threats of violence and or mob attacks, and claims of corrupt police closing their eyes to the repeated extortion of tourists by the same old crooks playing the same old games.
It's quite possible that change/progress can be made. But it'll take more than a few months of action. Most of us here have a wait and see attitude.