Czech
Visa-free EU travel for Ukrainians announced
By Maria Badakh, UITT
Ukrainian citizens with biometric passports can now travel to EU member states without a visa for 90 days – which could bring millions more Ukrainian tourists to Europe each year.
This news will bring a huge increase to Ukraine’s outbound tourism market – which is already showing record-breaking growth. Ukrainians made over 24 million trips abroad in 2016. This is 7% more than in 2015, and the highest number since statistics began in 2000.
Many destinations are benefiting from the rise in Ukrainian tourists:
Around the Mediterranean, Ukrainian tourism to Spain grew 47% in 2016, for Cyprus the growth was 39%, and the growth figures for Ukrainians travelling to Bulgaria, Egypt and Israel were 24%, 19% and 13%.
– Ukraine is in the top 10 countries of origin for tourists in Turkey – for January to April 2017, 158,944 Ukrainians visited Turkey in the period, 11% more than the previous year.
– Ukrainians are also enjoying more long-haul travel. There was a 24% rise in Ukrainian visitors to the USA in 2016, Iran grew 45%, and Thailand grew 12%. China grew spectacularly – 135% more Ukrainians visited in 2016 than the previous year.
Why the rise? Ukraine’s economy is recovering, and GDP is forecast to grow 3.5% next year. This means more spending power for Ukrainians – allowing them to travel abroad again and release their demand for holidays.
Make sure these tourists come to you by exhibiting at UITT, Ukraine’s leading international travel and tourism exhibition. Each year at UITT, 30 countries and tourist destinations, most of them as part of national groups, exhibit to Ukraine’s travel industry buyers.
