Nearly one month after the Polish government implemented a policy requiring Ukrainians to travel with visas, domestic travel agencies and insurance companies are debating how the policy will affect Ukrainian travelers, travel service providers and international trade.
As of Oct. 1, Ukrainian citizens traveling to Poland must have a visa to cross the border. Prior to Oct. 1, visas were not necessary.
Representatives of the countries’ travel agencies say it is too early to comment on the effects the new visa regulations have had on their business, though judging from the experiences of other countries, they say business is likely to drop.
When the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria began requiring Ukrainians to obtain visas, the number of Ukrainian tourists to these destinations dropped an average of 15 percent compared to the days when travel was not restricted.
“If it goes according to the previous scenario, there will be some drop in traffic to these countries, but it won’t be considerable,” said Oleh Pikersky, director of Artex travel agency. Some decline in travel to Polish and Hungarian destinations is expected, he added, but the situation is expected to stabilize.
Pikersky’s most immediate worry is that Ukrainian tourists who have planned vacations over the New Year holidays to the ski resort area in Poland may have difficulties obtaining visas.
“My advice for travelers is to prepare visas in advance,” Pikersky said. “Due to the huge amount of travel over the New Years period, it’s possible that the embassies may not be able to satisfy all requests,” he said.
The number of tourists a medium-sized company like Artex sends to Hungary per month is about 100 people. Tours to Poland are mainly of a seasonable nature.
Though travel agencies may simplify the process of getting visas in the future, the usual waiting period is currently about one week, he said.
Todor Charakov, owner of a private hotel in Sozopol, Bulgaria that caters mainly to Ukrainian and Russian tourists, said that his business dropped almost 40 percent when Bulgaria issued new visa requirements for citizens of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
According to the State Statistics Committee, 2.5 million Ukrainians visited Poland and 1.1 million Ukrainians visited Hungary in 2002, accounting for about 27 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of all vacations abroad.
The numbers may not be representative of the tourism industry, though, since the top three destination spots for Ukrainians – Russia, Poland and Hungary – are frequented by shuttle traders, who visit these countries in order to buy and sell cheap goods.
Though travel services remain mildly optimistic about the future, insurance companies say they’ve already started to suffer as a result of the new visa requirements. Since Oct. 1, the issuance of transit insurance cards, required to enter European countries by car, has declined sharply, analysts said.
“A lot of people are quite nervous now. Representatives of insurance companies in western Ukraine are leaving or reorienting their businesses,” said Yulia Malashenko, head of Oranta’s car insurance department.
About 70 percent of insurance cards issued for crossing by car into Poland is issued in western Ukrainian regions.
She said that the number of insurance cards issued by her company has already dropped by 30 percent.
Instead of issuing insurance cards for private drivers, insurance companies are turning their attention to business travelers who cross the border often for work-related purposes.
Soon after the Czech Republic introduced its visa policy, the number of Ukrainians who crossed the border decreased by 90 percent. Since that time, insurance companies have only been able to restore their business to 40 percent of what it was before the new visa policy.
Meanwhile, Malashenko said that Polish businesses have more cause to worry about the changes than Ukrainian businesses due to the type of work they are involved in. Ukraine exports raw materials, metals, and chemical products to Poland and Hungary, and contracts are generally negotiated on the state level. Polish businesses, however, deal mostly in foreign manufactured consumer goods, and successful sales require face-to-face contacts with clients.
“Ukraine is a key market for these countries’ exports of foreign manufactured consumer goods and food,” Malashenko said.
Hungary will introduce new visa regulations that would require all Ukrainians to get visas before entering the country. The new visa policy is scheduled to take effect Nov. 1.
Otto Sabo, consul general of Hungary in Uzhgorod, said during a meeting with the Uzhgorod mayor on Oct. 20 that Hungary’s consular offices in Uzhgorod and Berehove, both in Zakarpattya oblast, are taking all necessary steps to prepare for the changes, and prevent hassles at the border.
Based on the number of enterprises and consular offices registered in the area, Hungary is Uzhgorod’s largest foreign investor. Uzhgorod officials have a vested interest in ensuring that the process runs as smoothly as possible.
“There are currently 22 enterprises with Hungarian investments operating in Uzhgorod, and our goal is to be prepared to handle visa applications when the change occurs,” Sabo said.
