Ukraine’s hotel market has stabilized amid the war, with the highest activity in the west of the country and a slow recovery in Kyiv, according to a study by EY Ukraine.
“We can state that the market has stabilized in the new realities. Lviv, Bukovel and western Ukraine in general have very positive indicators, while Kyiv’s are quite low. In the capital, hotel occupancy is 15-25%, while before the war, the normal rate was 50-60%,” said Rostyslav Khoma, Head of Real Estate Advisory Services at EY Ukraine, at the conference “Analytics of the Ukrainian Real Estate Market: First Half of 2023”.
According to the company’s research, in Lviv and Bukovel, hotel occupancy in June 2023 was about 50-60%, while in Kyiv it was about 25%. At the same time, occupancy in the capital has shown moderate growth since January 2023, and June showed the highest occupancy rate in Kyiv since the start of the full-scale war.
“At the moment, we do not yet see any grounds for a sharp change in the level of loading in Kyiv given the current situation,” Khoma said.
In the first half of the year, the main income of hotels was directly from accommodation, while the food & beverage category and conference functions brought less money.
According to the expert, further recovery and development of the hotel market depends on the military and macroeconomic situation in the country.
“If the war ends quickly, there are more positive expectations due to the possible resumption of air travel, a potential increase in foreign tourists. However, it will take some time until tourists are convinced that it is safe to travel to Ukraine. In the event of a protracted war, however, the emphasis will have to be on domestic tourism. Given the restrictions on men traveling abroad, domestic tourism will be a key driver of demand in the medium and long term,” Khoma summarized.
