The Ukrainian hotel industry is attracting slightly more tourists than in the years before the 2014 EuroMaidan revolution, according to newly published U.S. market research.
The industry has made up for losses following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic crisis, with Ukrainian hotels hosting three percent more guests in 2017 than in 2012, according to Dennis Spitra, head of business development at STR Global Europe, a U.S. researcher who covers the global hotel industry.
There was a huge drop in tourists traveling to Ukraine from 2013 to 2015, the years of the EuroMaidan Revolution and subsequent economic crisis. But now Ukraine is in “recovery mode,” Spitra said on Feb. 17, at the International Hospitality Conference held at the InterContinental Kyiv Hotel.
And though the hotel industry isn’t thriving yet, when compared with other Eastern European countries, “Ukraine’s doing not so badly,” Spita said, adding that apart from hotel occupancy in the country, Ukraine’s not so far from the rest of the region. Currently, the occupancy of Ukrainian hotels is 51 percent.
That’s a usual picture for countries recovering from different turbulent events like revolutions, terrorist attacks, and military clashes – the kinds of things that Ukraine has experienced. Spitra gave the example of a similar trend in France after a series of coordinated terrorist attacks hit Paris in November 2015.
Dennis Spitra, head of business development at STR Global Europe, U.S. researcher that tracks the global hotel industry, talks to an audience at the International Hospitality Conference held at the InterContinental Kyiv Hotel on Feb. 17.
The demand for hotels in Ukraine is mostly driven by branded hotels like Hilton, InterContinental, Radisson, and Hyatt, all of which are located in Kyiv. The branded hotels are performing three times better than independent ones, whereas in London or Munich, independent hotels are four times more popular than those with big names.
Meanwhile, while hryvnia-denominated prices have shot up 20 percent, for Europeans and Americans Ukraine has gotten twice as cheap, due to the weakening of the Ukrainian currency.
Nevertheless, most hotel guests in Ukraine are from Moldova, Belarus, Russia, Hungary, and Poland. And the number of tourists from these countries will grow, except for Poland, whose tourists are exhibiting a lower level of interest in Ukraine.
“We’d have done more a detailed forecast for Ukraine, if there had been at least 10 years without any political or economic disturbances,” Spita said.
In general, the hotel industry in Europe has performed better than all other world markets since the Financial crisis of 2007-2008, according to STR estimates. Revenue in Europe went up by 6.5 percent in 2017, bringing 3.1 percent more hotel guests.
