Visa exemption did not affect the deployment of forces for summer vacation

For almost 4 months that have passed since the introduction of the visa-free regime with the countries of the European Union, there has been no global increase in the flow of tourists from Ukraine to these countries. The tourist preferences of our compatriots remained the same as in previous years: during the summer holidays, traditional beach resorts - Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Montenegro - were in demand. As unn.com.ua reports, the head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Tour Operators of Ukraine, Ihor Golubakh, told about this at a press conference in Kyiv. He described the need to confirm financial security for crossing the border as one of the factors in the lack of redistribution of demand. Previously, it was said that when crossing the border, you need to have the necessary amount with you from 3 to 50 euros per day (depending on the state). But the need to finance the trip is by no means the only reason that influenced the preferences of Ukrainians. Let's not forget that Ukraine received a well-deserved visa exemption in the summer, when the above-mentioned destinations are primarily popular. It is more logical to expect an influx of travelers to the countries of Western Europe in the autumn period, when most beach destinations end.

The second point is the prices for tours: due to the abundance of charter programs at "summer" resorts, vacations in Turkey, trips to Egypt or others, mass dumping often occurs, which cannot be said about the bulk of the EU countries. Before that, tour operators could well not have felt the increase in demand for Europe and due to the factor of the transition of clientele to the section of individual tourism. Why, not only the procedure for crossing the border was simplified, but also the presence of many services for online booking of hotels and air tickets for vacations in Spain, for example, helped a lot. Statistics of the State Border Service could clarify the real state of affairs. But, unfortunately, it is not perfect either. Judging by the data published on the department's website, as of August 23, about 200,000 Ukrainians used the right to enter the country without a visa. At the same time, it is not established how many of them were organized travelers, and how this number differs from the number of border crossings in 2016. But even if a sample comparison makes it obvious that the number of Ukrainians who go on vacation to various "non-European" countries is much larger. For example, 282,000 Ukrainians visited Antalya alone in the first 6 months of 2017. And we can safely say that today this coefficient is much higher.