Ukrainian hoteliers predict the late start of the summer season in the country (not earlier than July), at the same time, country hotels will be able to adapt more quickly and start working after the long quarantine.
“Few people want to open summer hotels and beaches before July. The work of restaurants, entertainment centers will also depend on this. Events such as the Odesa Film Festival or concerts in the summer are unlikely to take place. Given the need to keep the pandemic from spreading, the start of the season in June is unlikely,” Managing Director of the five-star Kadorr Hotel Resort & Spa (Odesa) Olena Kalynovska said during the online conference entitled “Hotel Market in Times of Crisis.”
According to Director General of the five-star suburban complex Edem Resort Medical & Spa (the village of Bibrka near Lviv) Oleksiy Voloshyn, it will be easier for resort and country hotels to recover after quarantine ends.
“After quarantine, some hotels and restaurants will not open at all, some will open on the first day, some will decide to wait and open a little later. I believe that resort and country hotels will rise faster than business hotels that are more focused on foreigners and air travel,” he said.
Voloshyn said that the crisis will not hit hard, including Edem Resort Medical & Spa.
“My forecast is very positive: I think that by the end of April we will reach the indicators that we had. This summer we were provided with advance payments for about 40-50 events. These are mainly weddings and celebrations. Today, we don’t have any request for a refund,” the CEO said.
The owner of the family hotel complex Taor Karpaty (the village of Lastivka, Lviv region, 9 km from Skhidnytsia) Olena Sozanska also confirmed the guests’ interest in accommodation outside the city, including during the quarantine period.
“For many guests, this is an opportunity to escape from large cities with their families and protect themselves from infection while living in high-rise buildings. I think there is a demand for such self-isolation in the Carpathians,” she said.
According to Sozanska, the last guest left Taor Karpaty at the end of March, but the facility is ready to receive guests upon request with accommodation for at least five nights.
“We don’t want to close completely, because we are preparing for the summer season and then it will be difficult to start… We are ready to open, but we will receive guests who are willing to check in for a long time – for five and more days. That is, we do not accept booking for one or two days,” she said.
The Good Zone Hotel, a family country complex, is completely quarantined, except for technical services. According to Managing Director Serhiy Rudko, now the facility does not count on a quick resumption of operations.
“Country hotels will come to life a little earlier. Nevertheless, we previously determined two dates when the market would be ready to consume services: optimistic and pessimistic – June 15 and August 15… Removing the quarantine does not mean that demand will recover. Yes, there will probably be domestic tourism, but only in the medium plus segment and above,” he said.
Nika-Tera sea terminal (Mykolaiv), part of Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF, handled 2 million tonnes of cargo from January 1 to April 10, 2020, the company said on Facebook.
“After 49,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn for export had been loaded on board the Panamax GRIZZLY, on April 10 Nika-Tera port’s cargo turnover amounted to 2 million tonnes from the beginning of 2020. This batch of corn is sent by Louis Dreyfus to Spain,” the report says.
The GRIZZLY bulk carrier was loaded at the eleventh berth of the port simultaneously with two loading machines, which allowed Nika-Tera to achieve a daily loading rate of 36,000 tonnes.
According to the company, in the first quarter of 2020, Nika-Tera’s cargo turnover amounted to 1.87 million tonnes, which is 1.5% more than in the same period last year.
In general, in the first three months of operation, the port handled 85 vessels, including two bulk carriers with additional loading at the roads, as well as four tankers with sunflower oil.
In the structure of cargo turnover, the main cargo remains cereals, legumes and oilseeds, which accounted for 65% of the quarterly transshipment volume or 1.22 million tonnes. Bulk cargo amounted to 14% or 270,000 tonnes, meal some 17% (320,000 tonnes), and oil transshipment some 4% (70,000 tonnes).
Ukraine in January-March 2020 increased import of oil (according to foreign economic activity code 2709) by 22.7% (by 33,400 tonnes) compared to the same period in 2019, to 180,673 tonnes.
According to the State Customs Service, in the first quarter, $99.746 million worth of raw materials were imported, which is 41.3% more than in January-March 2019 ($70.581 million).
So, oil supplies from Azerbaijan totaled $37.884 million (a share of 37.98%), Libya some $31.745 million (31.83%), the United States some $30.118 million (30.19%).
Ukraine did not export crude oil in January-March 2020 and in 2019.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 14/04/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 14
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Electricity consumption in Ukraine in January-March 2020, taking into account in-process losses in power grids, fell by 5.6% (by 2.366 billion kWh) compared to January-March 2019, to 39.644 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Excluding in-process losses, electricity consumption over the period decreased 3.6% (by 1.179 billion kWh), to 31.965 billion kWh.
The country’s industry, excluding in-process losses, reduced electricity consumption by 5.8%, to 12.429 billion kWh. In particular, metallurgical industry consumed 6.746 billion kWh (9.5% less compared to January-March 2019), fuel industry some 849.9 million kWh (6.6% less), machine building industry some 959.9 million kWh (14.2% less), chemical and petrochemical some 2.029 billion kWh (24.2% more), food and processing some 1.088 billion kWh (1.2% less), construction materials some 483.4 million kWh (2.1% less), and others some 1.283 billion kWh (0.8% down).
In addition, agricultural enterprises consumed 854.8 million kWh (4.2% less), transport some 1.708 billion kWh (6.8% less), and developers some 282.5 million kWh (7.6% down).
In January-March 2020, the country’s population consumed 10.407 billion kWh (0.9% up), households some 4.138 billion kWh (6.7% down), and other non-industrial consumers some 2.145 billion kWh (1.3% down).
The share of industry in total electricity consumption in January-March 2020 fell from 39.8% to 38.9%, and the share of the population grew to 32.6% from 31.1%.
In March 2020, electricity consumption, taking into account in-process losses, decreased by 7% (by 948.2 million kWh) compared to the same month of 2019, to 12.611 billion kWh, excluding in-process losses it fell by 3.9% (417.8 million kWh), to 10.374 billion kWh.
