The Council of the European Union has added Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru to the list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted. Ukraine also remained on the list of countries for whose residents the EU Council recommends gradually lifting travel restrictions at external borders.
“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru were added to the list,” the EU Council said in a statement on the website on Friday.
As stipulated in the Council’s recommendation, this list will continue to be reviewed every two weeks and updated as appropriate.
During the New Year holidays, over 300,000 Ukrainians, who are subscribers of the mobile network operator Kyivstar traveled across Ukraine and abroad.
Thus, the top ten cities of Ukraine, where Kyivstar subscribers most actively traveled during the New Year holidays, included: Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, and Rivne. Tourist mobility peaked on December 28, 2020 and January 3, 2021.
The three most popular ski resorts in Ukraine among the operator’s subscribers were Bukovel, Slavske, and Dragobrat. The tourist peak of mobility of Ukrainians who went to ski resorts fell on December 31, 2020, January 1, January 2, January 8 and January 9, 2021.
According to the company, the majority of Ukrainians went abroad to Egypt, Turkey, Poland, Moldova and Romania. At the same time, in 2019, Kyivstar subscribers preferred Poland, Egypt, Moldova, the Czech Republic and Germany.
In addition, according to the data provided, in 2020, new directions appeared among the countries that were visited by Kyivstar subscribers on New Year’s holidays, such as the Maldives, Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, and Tanzania.
The company said that the number of tourists who traveled abroad in 2020 fell by 81% compared to 2019.
“Big Data remains a strategic business direction in Kyivstar. Its potential is huge, because analytics helps in the development of various smart ecosystems, including urban ones in terms of tourism potential or infrastructure improvement. And Kyivstar has everything necessary resources for developing the sector: data, technical equipment, a team of analysts and data scientists, innovative technologies and opportunities,” the press service of Kyivstar said, quoting New Business Director at Kyivstar Ilya Polshakov.
The operator said that the mobility data for subscriber groups was analyzed from December 24, 2020 to January 10, 2021.
When determining a trip within Ukraine, only one settlement was taken into account, in which the subscriber spent more time, but no less than two days. When determining a foreign trip, only one country was taken into account in which the subscriber spent the most time.
European Travel Insurance (ERV, Kyiv) in three summer months of 2020 insured 63% fewer tourists than a year ago, when over 612,000 tourists were insured, the insurance company has said in a press release.
The number of tourists insured by the company who traveled in Ukraine fell by 58% and those traveling abroad – by 64%. In June-August 2020, ERV insured more than 191,000 tourists who traveled abroad, and more than 35,000 tourists who traveled across the country.
“For the company, as well as for the entire tourism industry, the summer was difficult. It was unrealistic to make any plans in the ever-changing situation on the travel market. Although the borders opened and air traffic resumed early June, tourists are seriously scared by the sad experience of quarantine, they were not in a hurry to plunge into the world of travel again. During the summer, the tourism business learned to work in a pandemic, and tourists got used to traveling in new realities,” ERV said.
According to the company, in general, over the summer period, 1,873 insurance accidents were registered with tourists abroad for the amount of UAH 10,602 and 45 – with those traveling across the territory of Ukraine for a total of UAH 122,000.
If in June only 86 insurance accidents with tourists abroad were recorded, then in August their number increased to 1,417 for the amount of UAH 7.326 million. Of these, 908 cases occurred in Turkey (for comparison: in July, 360 insurance accidents were recorded abroad, 243 of them occurred with vacationers in Turkey, 215 cases occurred in Egypt, 121 accidents occurred with tourists in Bulgaria. Other insured accidents in August were reported with tourists in Croatia (51), Montenegro (31) and Albania (14).
Entry for Ukrainians has already been opened in 25 countries amid coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“At the recent briefing, I announced 23 countries that Ukrainians could go to. There are 25 counties now. The Bahamas (I agree that it is distant place, but attractive for travelers) and Lebanon (less popular place for Ukrainian travelers) are added,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Tuesday.
Earlier, the minister named 23 countries that Ukrainians can also visit: Turkey, Serbia, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Belarus, Great Britain, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Tunisia, the Republic of Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi and the Seychelles.
The minister spoke about the resource tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua, which was developed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, where people can get the most complete information about which country and by what rules entry is allowed.
Kuleba spoke about the rules of entry into countries that are popular among Ukrainians.
“Turkey: it is necessary to undergo a medical examination at the border, in case of COVID-19 symptoms, do a free PCR test, have insurance policy for COVID-19 disease, you can buy it online or from a tour operator, or directly at the airport. Entry into Serbia is allowed without restrictions. The result of the PCR test or the obligation to pass a 14-day lockdown is necessary,” he said.
The foreign minister said that the condition for obtaining a permit to enter Croatia for those who are going for tourist purposes is also the presence of a confirmation of the booking the hotel or apartment.
“Entry into Montenegro is also a popular vacation destination and is allowed, but for those who leaving Serbia, a 14-day observation in a lockdown facility is required. The Bahamas: prior to departure, permission must be obtained on the Bahamas Travel Agency’s website and on arrival you must show the results of a negative test. Tunisia: the result of the PCR test and lockdown from 7 to 14 days are required,” Kuleba said.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and Turkish Ambassador to Ukraine Yagmur Guldere have agreed to start negotiations on resuming air travel and tourist trips between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reports.
“Following the meeting, it was agreed to begin procedures related to the restoration of air service between Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the negotiation process between the competent authorities of the two countries regarding tourist trips,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It is noted that Bodnar and Guldere paid special attention to the implementation of the agreements reached during the official visit of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to Ukraine on February 3, 2020, in particular large-scale infrastructure projects in Ukraine and housing construction in Kherson region for internally displaced persons who left the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The diplomats also agreed to intensify the existing consultative mechanisms at the level of the Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries and departments of Ukraine and Turkey, to ensure proper preparation and holding the next meeting of the Joint Economic Commission, and to begin planning the exchange of visits for the period after the removal of quarantine.
European Travel Insurance (Kyiv) in January-September 2019 increased the number of insured tourists by 45% compared to the same period in 2018, to 1.375 million people, the insurer said in a press release.
According to its data, the total amount of premiums collected for this period in 2019 increased by 47% compared to the same period in 2018, and amounted to UAH 248 million, while over the nine months of 2018 the company collected premiums in the amount of UAH 169 million.
The company’s net profit for this period after paying taxes under the IFRS system amounted to UAH 48.740 million.
According to the press release, for the nine months of 2019 the company registered 13,306 insurance cases in the amount of UAH 79 million with tourists abroad and 141 insurance events for UAH 269,000 in Ukraine. In total, during this period of the year, 16 major insurance events worth more than UAH 300,000 each were recorded, and the total amount of payments on them exceeded UAH 8.2 million.
According to the company, for the nine months of 2019, the majority of appeals were received from Turkey (35%, or 4,640 cases), Egypt (21%, or 2,823 cases), and Bulgaria (6%, or 833 cases).
