General damage, including the expenses to repair buildings and restore property damaged and destroyed as a result of the January events in Kazakhstan, has been estimated at 136.8 billion tenge ($313.6 million), the press service for the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development said on Saturday. “According to the estimates of the commission created at the president’s instruction, throughout the country, damage has reached 136.8 billion tenge, including not only expenses to repair buildings, but also to recover damaged property,” the press service said.
According to the ministry, the state body suffered damage of 54,6 billion tenge ($125.1 million) out of the aforementioned amount, and 1,923 businsses suffered damage of 82.2 billion tenge ($188.4 million).
The average daily spending of foreign tourists in Ukraine in 2021 is fixed at $929, the average visit time is 7-9 days, the State Agency of Ukraine for Tourism Development told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the agency study, among travelers, citizens of the United Arab Emirates had the highest average daily expenses, spending $2,220 daily. Citizens of Saudi Arabia and Oman spent $1,500 daily, Canada – $1,250 daily, the United States – $1,125.
“Last year, despite the pandemic, much more tourists came to Ukraine than in pre-COVID times. In terms of such indicators as the tourist tax for the nine months of 2021, we saw an increase of 20% compared to 2019. This became possible due to the fact that new tourism markets have opened up for us – the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The forecast for 2022 is even more positive. We expect repeated and first visits of tourists from countries that showed interest in 2021. New countries will join them,” head of the agency Maryana Oleskiv said.
According to her, in general, over 4 million foreigners visited Ukraine in 2021, which is almost 26% higher than in 2020.
The main purpose of visits by foreigners last year was vacation, leisure and recreation (29.5%). Some 25.9% of respondents came on a business trip, 22.4% of respondents visited relatives and friends, 11.7% of foreigners came for treatment and rehabilitation, only 4% for shopping. Another 1.2% of travelers visited Ukraine in search of their own roots.
At the same time, 36.5% of foreigners traveled in Ukraine with their families, 35.4% – alone, 21.8% of travelers – with friends. Some 5.1% and 1.2% of foreign tourists traveled with colleagues or as part of tourist groups, respectively.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting with top managers of the government and lawmakers has set a task to cut budget expenses on maintenance of officials by 10%. “We held a meeting to prepare the 2020 national budget for second reading. I listened to the Minister of Finance on the main indicators. I set the task to reduce national budget spending on officials for the next year by 10%,” Zelensky said in his Telegram channel on Friday.
The president said that this would save money and allow channeling funds to socially important budget items.
“This reduction should not affect teachers and doctors, those on whom the future of Ukraine depends,” Zelensky said.
