What tourism looks like in Crimea

(CNN)Photographer Didier Bizet was aware of the political situation in Crimea when he spent time there earlier this year.

But he wanted to document a different angle.

Before Bizet went to Crimea -- a peninsula south of Ukraine, surrounded by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov -- he read a Western European newspaper that said tourism has decreased over the years.

Once he got there, people told him otherwise.

"When I arrived and discussed with some people, they told me -- Russian people -- that it"s not true," Bizet said. "Tourism is going up because of the new politic of Vladimir Putin, who"s trying to make tourism (in Crimea) affordable for Russian people."

In early 2014, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power following violent protests in Kiev. It was soon after that Russian-backed forces seized control of the Crimean peninsula and Russia annexed it.

Bizet had never been to Crimea before, so he is not exactly sure if what he witnessed during his visit is widely dissimilar to what he would have seen prior to the annexation.

Have people from Russia always flocked to Crimea for vacation? Or have Russians only recently become more eager and able to see their country"s recently seized territory? It"s hard to say with certainty, and tourism studies and statistics appear more conflicting than they are convincing.

Nonetheless, Bizet describes what he saw in Crimea as "patriotic tourism." This notion was particularly evident when he went to Sevastopol. The seaside port is militarily significant, and it is where Russia"s Black Sea Fleet has been stationed ever since the Soviet era.

Bizet said Russian tourists enjoyed seeing their country"s military fleets there, perhaps more so now considering everything that has happened.

"They feel proud of it," he said.

Various sights in Crimea reminded him of Russia"s past, from the outdated cable car equipment to the clothing people wore. In photo No. 2, for instance, a man is wearing a T-shirt with a hammer and sickle symbol and "CCCP," the Russian abbreviation for the Soviet Union.

The French photographer ultimately decided to call his photo series, "Crime, vacances la Russe." He says it means something along the lines of "Crimea, vacation the Russian way."

"What I felt is that it"s definitely a Russian holiday, Russian country," Bizet said.

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