SkyUp (Kyiv) in the summer program of 2021 has planned more than 60 routes to 21 countries, of which 50% are from the regions.
According to the press service of the company, in particular, in addition to flights to France, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria, Armenia, Turkey, Israel and Cyprus the company will fly to Portugal, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Jordan, Sweden, Serbia, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
SkyUp plans to fly from Zaporizhia to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey and Cyprus, from Lviv to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, France and Israel, from Kharkiv to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus, from Odesa to Georgia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, Armenia and the Netherlands.
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.
Resort hotels in the south of Ukraine early finished the summer tourist season in 2019 at once after holidays on the Independence Day, which is several weeks earlier than in 2018, Director General of Ribas Hotels Group Managing Company Artur Lupashko has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“This year, resort hotels closed the season early. It ended after the weekend, when was the Independence Day, since the hotels in the south were almost completely empty as early as August 26. Nobody believes in September. Many teams are simply tired and decided not to take risks, although last year we “held on” until September 14-16. We counted on the weekends and gained. Odesa residents finally decided to relax by the sea for the weekends. Therefore, we had full occupancy in the first two weeks of September at the weekends,” he said.
According to preliminary data, this year, the occupancy rate in the hotels of the Ribas Hotels Group increased by an average of 5%. The highest occupancy was observed in August (91%), followed by July (81%), and the lowest rate was seen in June (46%).
“The results of the summer tourist season of 2019 were influenced by many factors. This is cool weather in the beginning of summer, then fluctuations in high temperatures, algae blooms in the sea, elections and much more. We would say that before the election, guests carefully planned their holidays,” Lupashko said.
According to him, about 60% of guests booked rooms a week before arrival, about 15% – two weeks, and only 5% – a month before the planned date of rest.
“People began to save on everything during their holidays. According to the tourist portal Booking.com, 60% of users use the room price slider as the first filter. The most popular price range for guests on the Ukrainian coast is from UAH 500 to UAH 1,500 per night for a room,” Lupashko said, adding that while doing this, guests take into account what is included in this price: breakfast, lunch, spa treatments, and other things.
In this regard, the Ribas Hotels Group is considering a proposal to remove services such as breakfast, extra cleaning, SPA treatments for guests of resort hotels. Thus, the average guest check will be significantly reduced and will correspond to the budget of the guest for the trip.
Ribas Hotels Group provides integrated management services, exclusive booking, franchising and design.
The total number of rooms in the network as of July 2019 was 1,424 rooms.
Ribas Hotels Group LLC (Odesa) was established in 2017.
According to the unified public register, Lupashko is the head and owner of a 100% stake in the charter capital of the company.
