The effects of the EuroMaidan Revolution, war, political turbulence, and economic instability have taken a heavy toll on Ukraine’s entire economy, but some sectors are already on the rebound.
And, perhaps surprisingly for a country still at war, one of those sectors is tourism.
Almost 25 million people came to Ukraine in 2013, but then the figure halved, to 12.5 million in 2014.
Since then, the number of people traveling to Ukraine has risen by 500,000 every year, getting to 14.5 million in 2017.
The number doesn’t include anymore the arrivals to Crimea, Ukraine’s peninsula popular with tourists, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Going abroad
Ukrainians aren’t just welcoming more tourists every year: they are traveling more, too.
The number of Ukrainians traveling abroad increased in 2017, when the country was granted the visa-free travel with almost all European Union states. From 2013 to 2016, Ukrainians traveled abroad 23–25 million times a year. But in 2017, there were 28.5 million foreign trips.
“Obtaining visas — which is time-consuming, bureaucratic, and pricy — used to be a big obstacle to many, while now Ukrainians can go abroad even for a short stay without having to go through this. And so they do it more often,” said Ivan Liptuga, the head of the nongovernmental National Tourism Organization.
But there are other factors fueling tourism abroad, he said.
Ukrainians who used to holiday in Crimea have gone elsewhere since Russia started its occupation of the peninsula in 2014. Now they choose to go either to Ukrainian cities on the Black Sea, such as Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolaiv, or resorts in Egypt or Turkey.
From 2015 to 2017, there was a huge decline in the numbers of Western tourists visiting these countries, and prices dropped to the same level as they were in Ukraine, with better service into the bargain. It is also easy for Ukrainians to enter Turkey — they don’t even need an overseas passport, a domestic passport will suffice.
Not all Ukrainians are going abroad for vacations, however.
American Carlo Khalife, CEO at Radisson Blu Hotels and Resorts in Bukovel, a popular Ukrainian ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains, says every now and again staff come to his office, hand in their notice, and leave for Poland or the Czech Republic to work there.
“With such opportunities, (the brain drain) is a big challenge for Ukraine,” Khalife told the Kyiv Post.
Located in a popular Ukrainian ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains called Bukovel, these cabins along with many other types of accommodation can provide travelers with the roof over their heads. (UNIAN) (source)
Low-cost airlines
Worldwide, 55 percent of tourists travel by plane, 39 percent go by car or bus, 4 percent use sea or river transport, and 2 percent travel by rail. But in Ukraine the transport mix is very different, according to the National Tourism Organization’s Liptuga.
With underdeveloped air travel, Ukrainians opt for cheaper railways and bus services.
“Aviation is developing at a crazy speed in the world, but not in Ukraine,” Liptuga said. “At the same time, the country is located in the center of the European continent, the most visited continent in the world. More low-cost airlines will appear, it’s natural… just a question of time.”
Ukraine already has the low-cost airline WizzAir; and Irish giant Ryanair is to start flights in November. But to lure more such companies, Ukraine needs to build quality international airports for them, Liptuga said.
Currently, Ukraine has only six international airports. The biggest are Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport and Igor Sikorsky International Airport (also known as Zhulyany) — both serving 12 million passengers a year.
Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv and Odesa airports each service up to 1 million passengers per year, according to their websites.
A Ukrainian citizen has his biometric passport checked at Kyiv Boryspil International Airport on June 11, the first day of visa-free travel to most European nations. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Tourism in Ukraine
But many Ukrainians still prefer domestic vacations — luckily for hotels like Radisson Bukovel in the Carpathians.
Some of those who used to go to Crimea now visit western Ukraine, “breathing the fresh air in the mountains,” Khalife said.
The executive says that in summer 2017 season occupancy at his hotel was 80 percent, the highest ever in Bukovel in summer. And 80 percent of the visitors were Ukrainians.
“There’s a lot of demand, and that’s a positive sign,” Khalife said. “Generally, I feel that something good is going on in the domestic tourism industry.”
The National Tourism Organization’s Liptuga has also noticed the trend: domestic tourism is developing.
“Many of Ukraine’s regions that hadn’t seen themselves as being tourist destinations have developed an interest in the sphere, and started offering industrial, gastronomical, ecotourism destinations,” he said.
Responding to the rise in domestic tourism, regional authorities have over the last five years created departments to market their territories and attract more visitors. Lviv has since become an all-season destination, and the most popular tourist stop in Ukraine.
However, domestic tourists often don’t bring much money with them. According to Liptuga, Ukrainians prefer individual tourism and avoid using tour operators — they travel alone, book cheap accommodation online, and buy their own food.
Ticket company Kiy Avia’s domestic and foreign tourism manager Inna Kuchalska says more of her clients travel within Ukraine than abroad, although domestic trips tend to be shorter.
For example, her clients may go to Lviv or Odesa for a weekend.
These weekend getaways are popular and have to be booked in advance.
“When someone asks us, as an agency, to organize a trip to Odesa or western Ukraine, it’s really challenging to find a place available,” Kuchalska said.
Women take selfies from the top of Lviv city hall. Regional authorities have in recent years created tourism marketing departments. Lviv, the city of 728,000 people 740 kilometers west of Kyiv, has become an all-season destination and the most popular tourist stop in western Ukraine. (UNIAN)
Cautious foreigners
Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors to Ukraine is rising again, after a steep plunge in 2014. In 2017, Ukraine had 14.5 million foreign visitors — a small number compared to 25 million in 2013, but also the highest one since 2014.
And while Moldovans account for most of the tourists — 4.6 million people — the number of Belarusians doubled in the period between 2016 and 2017, reaching 2.7 million visitors. Other countries sending Ukraine large numbers of tourists are Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Kyi Avia’s Kuchalska, however, says more Chinese and Indian people are now buying tickets to Ukraine. And that’s good for business, as these tourists spend more money and often require the services of a tour company, she said.
Such “far-flung” foreigners usually come for three to five days, often as families, Kuchalska added. They visit Kyiv, and sometimes add a trip to Odesa.
But while most Westerners have been able to travel to Ukraine visa-free for more than a decade, citizens from Asian nations still face costly and time-consuming visa application processes. That’s a big problem, said Kuchalska.
Ukraine could become a big tourist center for foreigners, but only if it lures more Indians and Chinese, who “want something new… and who are interested in our Soviet-style architecture, food… and five-star hotels,” she said.
“So the government should take part in developing the industry,” Kuchalska said. “Tourists bring a lot of money. They are ready to buy stuff here, souvenirs, tours. And there would be more of them if Ukraine simplified its visa regime (for Asia).”
Ukrainian visas for visitors from Asia cost about $100.
All the same time, Kuchalska sees good prospects for the development of the tourism industry in Ukraine.
Khalife from Radisson Bukovel agrees.
“I’ve been working in various countries in Europe for the last 10 years. I can say I’ve got a rich international experience,” he said. “And I see that Ukrainians are very motivated to learn how to work in the tourism industry, and deep inside they want to move forward.”
