Crimea has long been popular with holidaymakers, from members of the imperial Russian nobility, to Soviet-era workers and their families who came to the peninsula for state-funded breaks.
Today the area is still heavily reliant on tourism, but the future of its holiday industry has been thrown into doubt after the region was annexed by Russia last month.
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Crimea boasts dramatic landscapes and a mild climate, and aside from Russia's military base at Sevastopol, tourism is still its main industry.
But of the 6 million to 8 million holidaymakers who come in a year, more than 60 percent come from Ukraine, from which Crimea has just seceded, and only a quarter from Russia, the country it has voted to join.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Some locals now hope to attract a bigger market of Russian tourists, but that will be a harder task.
Russians arrive by air rather than train, so Crimea will now have to compete with further flung destinations like Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece or even Thailand.
Many of Crimea's hotels are well worn, without the luxury Russian visitors can find at other easily reached destinations on the Black Sea or Mediterranean.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Crimea's appearance has changed a great deal since its days as a favoured tourist destination of imperial Russia's social elite.
Holidays on the peninsula feature in the work of Russia's great writers, including Anton Chekhov, whose best-loved story, "Lady With Lapdog", tells of fin de siecle adultery between a middle aged banker and a bureaucrat's wife who meet during languid evenings under the cypresses of the Yalta seafront promenade.
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Crimea is also home to the elegant Livadia Palace, the last residence built for the tsars before the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
In February 1945 the site hosted the seven-day Yalta Conference, when Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt made key decisions on the post-war order. Today it is a museum.
Director Larisa Dekusheva said she hoped to see more Russian tourists come to the area, now that Moscow has said it is determined to make Crimea a more popular holiday destination.
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Slideshow
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
A man rows a small dinghy near the embankment in Yalta.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
The Black Sea gushes around the sun terrace of the Zhemchuzhina sanatorium, outside Yalta.
. ALUSHTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
People stand by an empty swimming pool in the Black Sea resort town of Alushta.
. ALUSHTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A woman pushes a pram along the waterfront.
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Birds fly near the embankment in Yalta.
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Buildings stand along the waterfront.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A Crimean flag is seen on an unfinished building in the town.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
The dilapidated Kurpaty Sanatorium stands in Yalta.
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
A general view shows the Crimean town.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A group of Orthodox Christians carry crosses and icons as they walk along a street in Yalta during what they called "a patrol against possible evil that might befall the Crimean peninsular.”
. YALTA, Ukraine. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Men walk in front of Yalta's Massandra palace.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A museum attendant looks out of a window in Livadia Palace, where U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin held the Yalta Conference.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A signpost reading "Kiev" stands in the park of the Livadia Palace.
. YALTA, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A general view shows the Crimean town of Yalta on the coast of the Black Sea.