Some 2.5 million tourists visited Lviv in 2019, which is 10% less than last year, the Tourism Department of Lviv City Council has reported. “Some 2.5 million tourists visited Lviv in 2019 and 37% of them were Ukrainian citizens,” reads the statement.
According to the Tourism Department, this figure is 10% lower than in 2018. However, the number of tourists from Poland who visited Lviv in 2019 increased by 2%, to 18.3%. Some 6.6% were tourists from Belarus, 6.2% – from Turkey, 5.4% – from Germany and 3% – from the UK.
Around 46% tourists traveled to Lviv by train, 30.8% – by airplane, 11.8% – by car and 11.6% – by bus.
“A tourist stayed in Lviv on the average for 3.8 days and spent around EUR 94 per day,” reads the statement.
Ukraine would receive income of $15 billion in five years of transit of Russian natural gas, according to Minister of Energy and Environment Protection of Ukraine Oleksiy Orzhel. “The approximate income with which Ukraine left this meeting [the meeting in Minsk on December 20, following which Ukraine-Russia-EC signed an intergovernmental protocol], is more than $3 billion for arbitration and approximately $3 billion for transit each year during five years,” the minister wrote in his column for the Ekonomichna Pravda (Economic Truth) publication on Tuesday.
“Thus, in five-year outlook, we will receive about $18 billion, of which $3 billion is ‘natural’ money – before the New Year. And this is without any enslaving conditions regarding the purchase of Russian gas,” Orzhel said.
At the same time, he said that at the meeting in Minsk the parties made significant progress, however, at present, the risk of not signing the new contract still exists.
“The protocol is not an agreement yet. In the last week of December, our companies will draft the text. But until the agreement itself has been signed, there is no transit. Can the other side change its mind at the last moment? Yes. Are we ready for this? Yes. But if this happens, Gazprom will suffer all image losses,” the minister added.
Only one in four (25%) Ukrainians supports the idea of shifting the celebration of Christmas from January 7 to December 25, while 64% of the citizens are against, according to a survey conducted by the Sociological Group Rating on December 5-8.
According to the survey, 25% of Ukrainians surveyed support the idea of postponing Christmas celebrations from January 7 to December 25, 64% of respondents are against such an idea, another 7% said that they were indifferent to this issue and 4% found it difficult to answer.
It is noted that the number of those who support the shifting of the date of the celebration of Christmas has increased in dynamics (in 2016 only 15% supported this idea, 69% were against it).
Thus, the majority of supporters of the idea of transferring Christmas are in the west: 43% support and almost the same number of respondents do not support. In other macro-regions, the respondents were more likely to oppose the shifting: 23% in the centre supported the idea and 66% were against, in the south – 15% and 74% respectively, and in the east – 14% and 74%. In addition, wealthier people, and middle-aged and older respondents support this initiative a little more.
The Sociological Group Rating polled the population of Ukraine of 18 years and older. The sample is representative by region, type of settlement, region, age, and gender. Some 2,000 respondents were polled through personal formalized interview (face-to-face). The study representativeness error is not more than 2.2%.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine stops issuing certificates for beverages named Cognac, Armagnac, Grappa, Brandy and Sherry as the transition period after the signing of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) Agreement expired. According to Annex III of the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, the countries of origin that can use names Cognac, Armagnac, Grappa, Brandy and Sherry are only France, Italy and Spain.
“Given that Ukraine has passed the transition period after signing the DCFTA, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry stops issuing certificates for drinks called Cognac, Armagnac, Grappa, Brandy and Sherry,” First Vice President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mykhailo Nepran said.
He said that from now on Ukraine will export sparkling wine and brandy, in accordance with the foreign activity codes.
As reported, the DCFTA trade area between Ukraine and the European Union began to operate on January 1, 2016.
Fuel filling stations operated by Privat Group on December 24, after a meeting held on at the Office of the President of Ukraine on December 23, reduced the price of all fuel grades by UAH 1 per liter, Director of A-95 Consulting Group (Kyiv) Serhiy Kuyun has reported.
OKKO and WOG networks, in turn, reduced the prices by UAH 0.5/liter, AMIC network by UAH 0.7-0.8/liter.
“After yesterday’s meeting with the president, Privat reduced the price of all grades of fuel by UAH 1. Interestingly, is it for love or for convenience?) UPD OKKO, WOG reduced it by 50 kopecks, AMIC by 70-80 kopecks,” Kuyun wrote on Facebook page.
As reported, on December 23 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with representatives of companies participating in the fuel market, oil and gas production sectors and fuel filling station networks and discussed the issue of reducing fuel prices at Ukrainian fuel stations and withdrawing the market from “the shadow.”
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of December 26
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
