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Friday 19th of April 2024, 09:31 CET |
| UKRAINE: New visa regulations may boost tourism |
July 15, 2002
LonelyPlanet TT Eastern Europe/Caucasus
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Written by Viktoria Braychenko
Posted by HW on April 18, 2024
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Foreigners eager to spend cheap vacations in Crimea
and Odessa may now find it that much easier to do so.
The government has implemented a plan drawn up earlier
this year to allow travelers from a handful of Western
countries to buy visas upon arrival in Simferopol and
Odessa.
While government officials said they expected the move
to provide a major boost to the tourist industry,
travel agencies appear more restrained, calling the
regulation a "half measure."
Under the regulation, visitors from the United States,
Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and Japan
traveling to Ukrainian sea resorts for up to eight
days will no longer need to secure visas before
entering the country.
The new rule will be in effect at the Simferopol and
Odessa airports, as well as at Odessa"s seaport,
according to Serhy Borodenkov, spokesman for Ukraine"s
Foreign Affairs Ministry. The new visa rule took
effect July 1 in Simferopol. It was unclear whether
the rule had taken effect in Odessa as the Post went
to press. Borodenkov said July 8 the ministry expected
the rule to take effect in Odessa in the "coming
days," but wouldn"t elaborate.
Valentyna Marnopolskaya, deputy minister at Crimea"s
Tourism Ministry, said her agency welcomed the new
visa regulations.
"We"ve long wanted Crimea to be more accessible to
foreign tourists," she said, adding that a study
conducted by her agency among foreign journalists in
1999 found Ukraine"s tight visa regulations was one
the major factors preventing foreign travelers from
visiting Crimea.
But there are key restrictions that will limit the
number of travelers who can exploit the new system.
For one, the regulation does not concern tourists
arriving in Kyiv"s Boryspil international airport,
which receives the vast majority of the country"s
incoming international flights. Foreigners traveling
to Ukraine through points other than Odessa and
Simferopol will still need to secure visas in
Ukrainian embassies abroad, according to Borodenkov.
In addition, travelers who want to stay in Ukraine for
longer than eight days will still need to acquire
visas from embassies abroad.
Still, the new measure represents some progress for
Ukraine"s moribund tourist industry. Elvira
Slobodyanyuk, the head of international relations
department in Ukraine"s Tourist Administration, said
her agency expects the total number of travelers to
Crimea and Odessa to increase by at least 20 percent
as a result of the visa regime. She said she hopes
this success will spur the government to introduce the
rules in airports throughout the country.
"At the end of summer, we"ll analyze the effects of
the regulation in Crimea and Odessa and try to
convince the government to extend the procedure to
other airports," she said.
In order to receive visas at eligible points of entry,
all foreigners need to do is present a confirmation of
a hotel booking or a tour purchased from a local
travel agency. Visas will cost around $30.
Marnopolskaya of the Crimean Tourism Ministry said
that her agency plans to actively promote the new
rules abroad.
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"We"ll be working directly with embassies and large
foreign travel operators," she said.
The ministry, which lobbied hard for the regulation to
be introduced, will concentrate on boosting the number
of foreign – especially German – charter flights to
Crimea and Odessa, Marnopolskaya said.
Odessa airport currently has only two regular
international routes affected by the new regulation
to/from Vienna and Athens. Simferopol airport receives
regular flights from Frankfurt and Hanover, Germany.
Tetyana Alperyna, public relations manager at Odessa
hotel, hopes simplified visa regulations will improve
business for her hotel and the entire city.
"It"s like a revolution," she said. "A lot of people
here have dreamed about this for years."
Alperyna said about 80 percent of the hotel"s clients
arrive from outside the former Soviet Union. Her only
regret was that the regulation does not concern
Israeli citizens, who account for a large chunk of the
city"s foreign visitors.
Some travel agents are more cautious in their
optimism. Evhen Solodov, head of sales for Kyiv based
SAM travel agency, said most of the company"s travel
packages offered to foreign tourists stretch beyond
eight days. For instance, the company"s Crimean tour
"Sunshine & Wine," which includes stops in Yalta,
Sevastopol, Sudak, Koktebel and Feodosia, takes nine
days.
Solodov called the new visa rule a "half measure."
"It"s extremely impractical," he said. "It is obvious
that foreign tourists will still opt to go to
countries where they are allowed to stay for as long
as they want or easily extend their visas."
Solodov said Ukraine would be better off allowing
foreign travelers to buy permits for 30 days, as do
other countries, such as Turkey.
Ukraine still has a long way to go before it even
begins to compare with its non Soviet neighbors as a
tourist destination. The Tourist Administration"s
Slobodyanyuk said that 5.8 million tourists visited
Ukraine last year, only 2.7 million of which arrived
from outside the former Soviet Union. By comparison
Poland and Hungary, which unlike Ukraine are land
locked countries, attracted 18 million and 15 million
tourists, respectively, in 2000, according to the
World Tourism Organization.
Solodov wouldn"t cite figures but said "very few"
tourists from outside the former Soviet Union have
been purchasing the firm"s Crimean tours. Apart from
tight visa regulations, foreign visitors have been
scared off by the peninsula"s poor infrastructure and
relatively high prices.
Solodov"s hopes in developing domestic tourism now
rest with Germany.
"There are currently 2.7 million of emigrants from the
former Soviet Union living in Germany who still have a
strong nostalgia for places and for the lifestyle
here," Solodov said.
He said his company has signed an agreement with a
German travel agency to put together tours for former
Soviet Union citizens. |
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