How the Ukrainian tourism industry suffered from the war

  1. Home
  2. Frontline
  3. How the Ukrainian tourism industry suffered from the war
How Ukrainian tourism suffered as a result of hostilities
23:00, 20.07.2022

Now we look at tourist bases and beaches only in military chronicles.



Another thing that the rashists took away from us is rest. Some of the places where tourists liked to visit are now not only occupied, but also under enemy fire. In some places only single boarding houses or camp sites work.

In the first four months alone, tax revenues from tourism fell by 18%. This is just the tip of the iceberg: there will be much bigger losses. It will be possible to assess the losses in the fall, since the main season is the summer. In addition, we understand that there is no inbound tourism as such. In fact, this is only Kyiv and Lvov - cities in which there are foreigners, international organizations, journalists, diplomats, etc. It is difficult to call it tourism, but they live in hotels, eat in restaurants that pay a tourist tax, - says Maryana Oleskiv, head of the State Tourism Development Agency, in a comment to the Grunt media.

And, for example, we will be able to assess the scale of negative environmental consequences for nature only after the war. Now there are many reports that dolphins are dying in the Black Sea, in the Kherson region, the seas are burning, mined, constant shots and explosions have a bad effect on both flora and fauna.

Ecologists will be able to answer more thoroughly over time. And then we'll see what can generally be restored. Because we will never be able to restore anything at all,” says Maryana Oleskiv.

The Head of State Tourism hopes that after the de-occupation, the damaged natural locations will help us to restore our partners.

What we see in the Crimea, where Russia has been “hosting” for a long time, there it actually had a negative impact on the flora and fauna. Crimea was transformed from a recreational zone into a military base. There, the impact on natural locations is very significant. Now in the occupied Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, they are actually doing the same - but at an accelerated pace, emphasizes Maryana Oleskiv.

In some occupied territories, rashists are forcing employees of recreation centers to open establishments for work. Some, in order to save the business, agree to cooperate on their own.

It is clear that even such a "opening" of recreation centers and hotels does not save the tourism business in the occupied territories. Mostly visitors are locals who can come for the weekend.

The RIA-Melitopol publication reported on the facts of Russian raiding in Kirillovka. There, the so-called occupation administration is forcing entrepreneurs and land tenants to re-register and pay taxes in the Russian Federation. The occupiers are also calling for the transition to the so-called re-registration in Skadovsk, Kherson region. According to the mayor of the city Alexander Yakovlev, entrepreneurs do not agree to this. Therefore, most of the facilities are closed. And the damage from the loss of the holiday season is estimated at hundreds of millions of hryvnia.

Support us on Patreon
Like our content? Become our patron