Ukrainian tourists not opting for package holidays, says State Tourism Service
Kyiv, February 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Tourism and Resorts Service of Ukraine has reported that Ukrainians, when it comes to tourism, are more and more likely to strike it out on their own.
"Tourists are becoming more individual - they want to see various countries on their own, and this tendency is likely to prevail in 2011," Deputy Head of the State Tourism and Resorts Service of Ukraine Dmytro Zaruba said at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
Analyzing the general situation with tourism last year, Zaruba said that the tourist flow from and into the country started increasing after the economic crisis. According to the tourism service, in 2010 the tourist flow amounted to 17 million people, which is 12% higher than in 2009.
According to Zaruba, this number includes mainly private and business trips, while the flow of tourists on package holidays dropped by 10%.
Russia remains the most popular destination for Ukrainians, with 5% growth and 30% of the general number of tourists.
"The number of tourists to Poland increased by 35%, while Egypt and Turkey also remain leaders," Zaruba said.
As for the service's forecasts, Zaruba noted that the tourist flow to Israel would obviously rise, due to the cancellation of visas.
On the other hand, tourists will try to find alternatives to Egypt and Tunisia, where the political situations are unstable.
"I think that these will be states with visa-free regimes and, of course, warm climates," he said.
In turn, Editor-in-Chief of the International Tourism and the Welcome to Ukraine magazines Oleksandr Horobets said Ukrainians would turn from Egypt to destinations like Turkey, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro.