Russian economic crisis helps save Putin’s post-Olympic dream at Sochi - The Washington Post
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-economic-crisis-helps-save-putins-post-olympic-dream-at-sochi/2015/01/17/d8c7bbd8-92b1-11e4-a66f-0ca5037a597d_story.html
After the television cameras went dark on the Winter Olympic Games last year in Sochi, the areas around the resort city were in danger of becoming expensive ghost towns.
President Vladimir Putin spent $50 billion on the Olympics, and had hoped his investment would leave behind a skier’s paradise in the mountainous Russian subtropics. But holiday bookings in Sochi were sluggish over the past year, as Russia grappled with a political crisis and increasing international economic isolation because of its involvement in Ukraine.
In the past several weeks, however, the resorts around Sochi have had a resurgence. Russians have tripped over themselves to reserve hotel rooms, book last-minute ski packages and fill Black Sea mountain getaways to near capacity.
Russia’s economic and political crisis, it turns out, just might have saved Putin’s post-Olympic dream.
It started around the time the ruble tumbled, trading in late November around 60 to the euro, compared with about 45 at the start of 2014. (It’s now almost 80). That made the cost of a European ski vacation jump for Russians who were accustomed to going on foreign holidays.
