The most popular destinations for the May holidays were the Egyptian resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam, the Antalya and Aegean coasts of Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, sales director of the tour operator Join UP! Maryna Daineko told Interfax-Ukraine.
For the May holidays Join UP! added point flights to Antalya, primarily from Kyiv.
“We are launching all other flights of the flight program to Turkey (from May 2 Dalaman, later Bodrum and Izmir) in the planned volume,” Daineko said.
According to her, Albania, Montenegro and Cyprus are actively booking by Ukrainians for the May holidays. At the same time, the company noted a sufficient revival in the direction of excursion tourism.
“Those who are interested in a rich historical, excursion and gastronomic program choose tours to Georgia, Armenia and the direction little-known by Ukrainians – Serbia,” Daineko said.
According to her, in general, Join UP! records an increase in demand by 25% to 30% for trips abroad on May holidays, as well as an increase in booking depth.
“If in 2019 Ukrainians ordered a tour on average 27 days before departure, then in 2020 this period was halved, to 13 days. In 2021, Ukrainians adapted to the new realities and began to actively plan and book holidays in Turkey and other countries for both May and summer,” Daineko said.
The company said that in all countries tourists will need a negative PCR test done no later than 72 hours before departure.
“The conditions of entry and return to Ukraine often change, so we recommend that you check the current information with a travel agent before booking the morning and departure,” Daineko said.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal instructed to work out ways to enhance tourism between Ukraine and Turkey.
“Ukrainians are on the list of numerous tourists in Turkey, and the geography of their rest is constantly expanding. Therefore, we must consider the possibility of expanding communication, including organizing additional flights on popular routes at weekends, as well as opening communication with new cities,” the governmental press service said, citing Shmyhal.
The prime minister also said that favorable conditions should be developed to attract tourists from Turkey to Ukraine.
“In addition to large cities, it is worth considering the possibility of developing directions to sanatorium resorts that will be interesting for traveling with the whole family,” he said.
For his part, Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Andrii Sybiha said the Ukrainian cities of Kamianets-Podilsky and Khotyn may be interesting for tourists from Turkey.
The meeting participants also discussed the possibility of mutual recognition between Ukraine and Turkey of future health certificates that are being developed in the European Union, which will help significantly increase the flow of tourists between states during a pandemic.
“Following the meeting, Denys Shmyhal instructed the relevant departments to study the issue of the possibility of increasing regular and charter flights between Ukraine and Turkey and consider ways to simplify the system of visiting Ukraine by vaccinated Turkish citizens,” the ministry said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about the importance of intensive development of tourism between Ukraine and Turkey.
“It is very important that we, [Erdogan] and I are talking about special conditions for Ukrainian and Turkish tourists, citizens. We talked about the need to really increase the level of tourism for Ukrainians and Turkish citizens. This is very important. I think especially now we have to support each other,” Zelensky said following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Thursday, April 15.
“Erdogan supports our independence, our sovereignty. You heard that Russia said it would restrict tourists or tourism from the Russian Federation to Turkey. It’s their business. And I think that, on the contrary, we need to increase and show that we support Turkey,” Zelensky said.
Also, according to Zelensky, during a meeting with Erdogan in Turkey on April 10, “a number of important documents were signed between Ukraine and Turkey, but support for Ukrainian sovereignty is much more important.”
“But the most important thing today, when we talk about the geopolitical issue, the issue of peace in Ukraine and the support of our partners, it is important that President Erdogan supports Ukraine, supports our temporarily occupied territories, supports Crimea. It is important that he supports our position: he does not recognize annexation of Crimea,” the head of state said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine intends to terminate the agreement with the government of the Russian Federation on cooperation in the field of tourism.
The corresponding draft decision was published in the agenda of the government meeting on Wednesday.
This agreement was signed in Kyiv on July 16, 1999.
It is noted that this decision will be made due to the fact that due to Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, actual cooperation in this area has been suspended, and there are no prospects for establishing such cooperation in the future.
The State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) and representatives of investors in the Borzhava and Slavske resorts have signed a memorandum of cooperation in the development of the infrastructure of the Carpathians.
The memorandum, in particular, was signed by Head of the State Agency for Tourism Development Maryana Oleskiv, First Vice President of OKKO Group Vasyl Danyliak, co-owner of the Bukovel tourist complex Oleksandr Shevchenko, legal consultant of Borzhava Asset company Yuriy Chizhmar during the Ukraine 30. Infrastructure forum.
“Cooperation with the state is very important for us, since the infrastructure around the resort is very expensive, and it is practically impossible to implement it without state support. This concerns, first of all, roads, sewerage and water supply and, of course, electricity,” Danyliak said.
“We, as an investor in Bukovel, are ready to build almost the entire infrastructure for the Olympics-2030, together with partners to build facilities that will complement each other so that the Carpathians become a diverse and attractive region for tourists from all over the world,” Shevchenko added.
Chizhmar expressed hope that, according to environmental standards, the development of infrastructure in the region will increase its investment attractiveness.
The tourism industry of Ukraine in 2020 saw about UAH 60 billion damage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The demand is lower today and the damage to the market has been significant. If in the world the losses of the tourism industry amounted to about $ 800 billion, then in Ukraine, according to our calculations, about UAH 60 billion. This is the damage that the industry saw in 2020,” the head of the State Agency of Tourism Development in Ukraine, Maryana Oleskiv, said during a press conference on assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the hotel industry in Ukraine.
At the same time, she clarified that the agency plans to publish the detailed results of the industry in 2020 in early February.
At the same time, there is still no detailed statistical data on the tourism market and its participants in Ukraine, Oleskiv said.
“For the state agency, this will be one of the priorities in the next [2021] year. In the budget that we have, which is UAH 100 million, we plan to use a significant share of funding to create a unified tourism register, where all accommodation facilities and tourist activity subjects can register and receive operational statistics at least monthly,” the expert said.
