Ukraine Introduces Euro 2012 Tourism Programs


Ukrainian state tourism committee is developing special tourism programs for the UEFA EURO 2012 according to the head of the department, Anatoly Pakhlya. He specified that 60 new tourists routes in 6 cities (4 of them will host the football matches) are already finished. These new routes include sites of national, cultural and natural heritage. The officials also plan to recommence a train service connecting Lviv and Krakow and possibly to simplify the border control for the visiting football fans.
Ukraine wants to attract as many football fans as possible. The goal is to persuade the visitors to stay 9-10 days in the same city and watch all the matches of their favorite teams. This strategy was successfully implemented during the last EURO in Austria and Switzerland as well as in 2006 in Germany.
The reason why the Ukrainian government struggles so hard to make the fans stay is quite understandable – the estimated amount spent by tourists could make €500-600 a day! However, if the fans simply come for the match and then leave the city they would spend only around €100 a day. The extra money is quite important for the country currently experiencing serious economic problems.
It is still doubtful that Ukrainian government will be able to achieve all its plans. The main profit should be from tourism. However the amount of money designated by the government for the development of tourism in Ukraine is in 2009 reduced 10 times! The tourism department plans to compensate for the lack of money in the budgets for 2010-2011. Who can guarantee though that in two years the financial situation in Ukraine will be better?

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