New features· Euro 2012 (co-hosted with Poland) will have a positive impact on tourism. The awareness of the Ukraine as a potential tourist destination is likely to increase.
· Hotel accommodation has improved and has grown as a result of new investment planned for Euro 2012 especially in the four hosting cities: Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk.
· The relationship with the EU might worsen as a result of Tymoshenko’s trial, but this is unlikely to affect tourism. At present it is hard to predict if the Ukraine will join Belarus on the EU’s “black list”.
· In general, the Ukraine is a very safe place in which to travel, and much safer than most of its neighboring countries.
· Tourism has grown rapidly in Ukraine after 2005 due to new visa legislation introduced by ex- president Viktor Yushchenko. Any citizen of the United States, Canada and the EU is allowed free entrance into the Ukraine for travel of fewer than 90 days.
· Ukraine is becoming increasingly attractive to low cost airlines. In May 2012 Ryan Air announced the opening of flights to Lviv and Donetsk, It will be the fifth budget airline in the country along with Wizz Air, Air Arabia, Pegasus and German Wings.
· Wizz Air operates flights from London Luton to Kyiv Zhulyany. Wizz Air also flies from other European cities such as Treviso Venice, Barcelona, Dortmund, Katowice, Cologne, Hamburg, to Kyiv. They also operate two flights from Lviv to Venice and to Dortmund.
· Active tourism – flights to Chernivtsi and Lviv could boost trekking and skiing in the Carpathian region (Yaremche, Vorokhta).
· The official language of the Ukraine is Ukrainian, although most Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian.
· The October harvest is the most picturesque time to visit he Ukrainian countryside.