For almost a year now, Ukrainians have been under attack from the latest Russian invasion on their territory on a daily basis. However, Ukraine is already planning convert war scenes into tourist itineraries.
Volodimir Zelenski’s government aims to recover the 4 million international visitors it received before the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
And that’s why he accepted the invitation of Spain to participate in the International tourism fair (Fitur) held every year in Madrid.
This 2023, Spain donated a stand to Ukraine so that it could be present among the 8,500 participants from 131 countries who, between January 18 and 22, tempted tour operators and future visitors with the wonders of their own lands. In this edition, 220,000 people visited the fair.
“Obviously we are not saying that tourists are coming (to Ukraine) now because the first thing we have to do is talk to local communities so they tell us what they want to tell, what their story will be,” said Mariana Oleskiv, president of the State Tourism Agency of Ukraine.
“Let’s be honest. Many people have discovered that Ukraine has existed since February 24 (when Vladimir Putin’s attack started),” the official added.
“We encourage people to visit Ukraine after our victory,” Oleskiv said in an interview with the Tourism and Society Think Tank (TSTT) website, where tourism specialists from around the world consult and advise on the sector.
“The terrifying news of Russia’s war against Ukraine has become the main source of information. They watched our country bleed and bombed, expecting Russian victory in a couple of days. And they were amazed by our resistance,” Oleskiv said.
Ukraine already knew this transform a tragedy into a space for memory and tourism: the center of Chernobylwhere the largest nuclear disaster in history occurred in 1986, is today a magnet for tourists: before the pandemic it received around 100,000 visitors a year.
Historical and cultural heritage
“This war may be long or short, but what we are seeing, and the Ukrainian government is working with us, is what is already destroyed or already damaged. It is estimated that it represents about 80% of the country’s historical heritage,” he said clarion Antonio Santos, president of the steering committee of the Think Tank Tourism and Society.
Santos presented at Fitur “Meet Ukranie” (“Meet Ukraine”), the program that aims to save the tourist attractions of the land today bombed by Putin.
“Ukraine is a huge country, with a brutal historical legacy, with palaces, with opera houses. Kharkov, in the former Soviet Union, was the city where geniuses from music, chess or sport went to develop skills. It’s a city that has about seven opera houses,” Santos points out.
The chairman of the State Tourism Agency of Ukraine emphasized the following: “Ukraine has a very rich and diverse cultural product. An incredible opera scene and major opera houses in Lviv (Leopolis) and Odessa. Numerous electronic, jazz and classical music festivals, such as Atlas Weekend, Lviv Jazz Festival and MozArt festival,” the official said.
“There are in Ukraine seven world heritage sites by UNESCO,” he commented.
And he listed some of them: “The St. Sophia Cathedral and adjacent monastic buildings, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the architectural ensemble of the historic center of Lviv (Leopolis), the Tavrian Chersonese, the wooden churches of the Carpathian region from Poland and Ukraine, the Struve Arch and the ancient beech forests of the Carpathians, among other corners”.
Like a Marshall Plan
“One of the activities of the TSTT is to debate and implement proposals on how tourism can help the development of territories in the world. And one of the cases is warring territories, like today’s Ukraine,” Santos said clarion.
“We are interested in how tourism can help peace and mutual understanding. And how tourism can help reactivate an industry and a country ”, she underlines.
“The idea is to work now on all those points that can help reactivation. It is the first time in history that it has taken place -says the tourism specialist-. The Marshall Plan after the Second World War is taken as a reference, with which, for example, the cathedral of Cologne, in Germany, was totally rebuilt”.
“Everything that has been destroyed or damaged must be recovered and from there start working not only on the historical heritage but on the resources it serves: hotels, roads, restaurants. You have to create a very important reconstruction framework,” he postulates.
According to the Oleskiv official, “today we have the recovery plan for Ukraine developed by the Office of the President (Volodimir Zelensky). It has a duration of 10 years and covers all the most important sectors of the economy, including tourism.
millionaire reconstruction
“So far, to rebuild the damage caused by this aggression, we estimate that state and private investors will invest nearly $200 billion,” Oleskiv said.
“We have seen in Fitur companies interested in positioning themselves now in Ukraine for when the time comes for reconstruction in hotels, transport, airlines. Ukraine is and will be a great opportunity,” says Santos.
“We are ready to meet the new demand – to discover the nation that stopped the third world war,” said the chairman of the State Tourism Agency of Ukraine.
“These values cost blood. People will be able to travel to what, until recently, were battlefields to see what it is like and feel that atmosphere,” added Pavlo Kukhta, Ukraine’s former minister of economy and trade.
“There is a lot to do and to invest. Ukraine is on everyone’s lips and it is also a way to get potential future tourists. They are also plans and projects that can be applied in conflict zones anywhere in the world,” assures the chairman of the TSTT steering committee.
Madrid. Corresponding
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Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.