Although most European Union countries are expected to cancel visa requirements on 90-day visits for Ukrainians this summer, tourism businesses in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv Oblast still hope for more tourists.
Indeed, Ruslan Volchenetsky, the head of the Department of Youth and Tourism of the Mykolaiv Oblast Administration, says the E.U.’s imminent cancellation of visas for Ukrainians, which is expected to come in force in June, is not likely to hurt Mykolaiv Oblast’s tourism industry.
The region’s low prices mean it can compete with far more expensive Europe destinations, Volchenetsky says.
Because of that, last year nearly one million tourists visited Mykolaiv Oblast. And in 2017, the local authorities expect that number to double.
“Last year, the cheapest resorts in Mykolaiv Oblast charged Hr 100 per person per night – that’s not the kind of money that can buy a holiday abroad,” Volchenetsky says.
He’s right: The cheapest four-day bus tours to Europe from Ukraine start from 100 euros per person – a price some Ukrainians simply can’t afford, with or without a visa.
According to a survey carried out in February by the Association of the Hospitality Industry of Ukraine, in 2017 just 9 percent of Ukrainians plan to spend more than Hr 1,000 per day of holiday (excluding living expenses), while 23.2 percent are ready to spend Hr 350–500 and nearly 30 percent said they will spend only up to Hr 200 per day.
Under such circumstances, the only option for a cheap seaside holiday for most Ukrainians is the south coast of Ukraine, and particularly Mykolaiv Oblast, says Oleksandr Aliyev, the head of Association of Hospitality Industry.
Volchenetsky from Mykolaiv Oblast Administration said Mykolaiv seaside resorts – Kobleve, Rybakivka, Ochakiv, Morske – might lose a few tourists this summer because of visa-free travel, but not many. And the region as a whole will gain more tourists, thanks to its affordability and popularity among families with children.
Cheap vacations
Anastasia Pohosova, who owns three recreation centers and two hotels in the seaside resort town of Kobleve, sees a signs of the destination’s increasing popularity: There is a rise in bookings for the May holidays – more than 60 percent of her rooms were booked as of the beginning of April, she said. Demand is up by 20 percent compared to last year, she says.
“I’m not worried by the visa-free travel (with the EU) at all,” Pohosova said. “Holidays in Europe are quite expensive, and a lot of tourists will likely choose cheaper domestic resorts.”
Resort hotels in Mykolaiv Oblast charge on average between Hr 150–500 per person. Some, including Pohosova, offer 7-day vacation packages: Hers, for example, goes for $150. For that price, one gets room and board, plus a guided-tour of the famous Kobleve winery.
Volchenetsky lists Mykolaiv Oblast’s advantages: a warm summer, sandy beaches stretching over 150 kilometers, landscaped parks, 46 nature reserves and two famous national natural parks – Granite-Steppe Pobuzhya and Biloberezhia Sviatoslava. Together, this gives the oblast a lot of potential to attract domestic tourists.
According to Volchenetsky, most Ukrainian tourists come from Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, Rivne, Cherkasy and Lviv oblasts.
However, Mykolaiv Oblast attracts holidaymakers not only because of its cheap sea resorts – local travel agents offer package tours that include rafting and yachting.
Volchenetsky says that holidays for children, as well as outdoor activities and rural tourism are among the most promising tourism trends in the future.
“Last year we had 70 countryside mini-hotels that provided rural tourism services. Now we already have 100 of them,” he said. “I think that this year rural tourism in Mykolaiv Oblast will see a breakthrough.”
Obstacles remain
Still there are lots of obstacles that slow tourism development. For many local tourist businesses, taxes have gone up. Pohosova says that after Kobleve village council in 2016 increased property tax rates by four times, she paid more than Hr 300,000 in taxes. This year Pohosova had to increase prices by Hr 50–100 per night per person to stay profitable.
Waste disposal in the resort areas also remains a big problem – local garbage collection firms perform poorly, while tourists coming to Mykolaiv Oblast are not accustomed to cleaning up after themselves, Pohosova complains.
Mykolaiv Oblast Administration’s Volchenetsky names poor tourism infrastructure and the poor state of local roads, more than half of which have not been repaired for decades, as obstacles to developing the tourism industry. The region also lacks modern water transport, he says.
Aliyev of the Association of the Hospitality Industry of Ukraine said the government should develop a strategy for developing tourism in the region. It should also create tourism products and promote tourist areas, he said.
As for visa-free travel to Europe, Aliyev believes that it will not harm, but foster domestic tourism, including to Mykolaiv Oblast: Closer ties with Europe, he said, would inevitably improve the quality of local tourism services.
