More than half of Ukrainians do not plan a vacation this year, and 53% of those who intend to rest, will spend their vacation in Ukraine, the press service of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine reported, referring to a study conducted by the Operative Sociology company.
According to it, vacation planning largely depends on the well-being of the population: Ukrainians with a high level of income intend to have more rest, and also more often consider Ukraine as a tourist attractive country.
“It turned out to be important information that most of our high-income population chooses rest in their own country and considers Ukraine to be attractive for tourists. And this is despite all the peculiarities with tourist services and infrastructure,” head of the Agency Maryana Oleskiv was quoted as saying.
According to the survey, 53% of respondents plan to spend their vacation in Ukraine, and only every tenth – abroad. Among those who plan to have vacation in Ukraine, about 45% would like to spend their vacation outside their region, the rest intend to travel within the region or stay at home.
At the same time, 42.2% of respondents rarely or do not travel throughout the country at all, while this figure is higher among the population aged 60 and over (40%).
“One of the tasks, and this is discussed in the presidential decree, is the introduction of preferential programs for pensioners, so that they also have the opportunity to travel like their peers from Western European countries,” Oleskiv said.
According to statistics, almost 30% of Ukrainians surveyed plan to spend their next vacation on the beach, while 20.1% will visit relatives or friends, 13.5% will go on vacation with a recreational purpose, 10.6% will go to the mountains, hiking, rafting. About 5% of respondents will go on leave, attend cultural events, and go in for ecotourism.
“Such studies make it possible to more clearly understand the current state of the industry. Guided by assumptions, it is impossible to choose the right vector for development. Thanks to statistics, we can see the strengths and weaknesses of the industry. This is the basis that will become mandatory for the strategy to boost domestic tourism,” Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said.
