XII. Discuss the following article. Make up a plan and compare it with those of your group-mates

Ukrainian travel prices often do not correspond to the quality of services. Poor meals, dingy rooms and shoddy transportation command nearly the same prices as comfortable western accommodations in other countries.

Million people a year enjoyed Crimea's spas and seascapes, according to the Crimean Prime Minister Anatoliy Franchuk, Last year, however, only 2.6 million people vacationed in Crimea, the ministry reported. Domestic debt, industrial slow downs and an unstable currency hurts Ukraine's travel industry, Kaliada said. Fewer Ukrainians can afford to travel and those who can tend to visit forcing countries.

For Ukrainians and foreigners, it's generally cheaper to travel abroad than it is to travel within Ukraine. One day in Crimea costs about US$ 25 - one day in Turkey or Bulgaria costs about US$ 12 to 18.

Moreover, Ukrainian travel price often do not cor­respond with the quality of services. Poor meals, dingy rooms and shoddy transportation command nearly the same prices as comfortable western accommodations in other countries.

To promote tourism in Ukraine the industry needs a better state program to encourage competition among agencies. There is little profit for travel agencies selling vacation packages in Ukraine.

The tourism that does exist comes mostly from other Commonwealth of Independent States countries and from children's school trips. Before the 1990s, Intourist hotel was usually filled with tourists. But the orientation changed. Now we can count only a handful of tourists among hundreds of businesspeople.

Domestic tourism is much more developed in foreign countries than is international tourism. That means, for example, a Frenchman is more likely to vacation in France than in, say, Germany. Each year, about 80 percent of the population of industrialized countries travels. In 1995, the European Community expects to earn US$ 380 billion from tourism. The tourism industry in some countries, like Poland, makes up 20 to 50 percent of the country's gross national product. The tourism industry in Ukraine makes up 1 percent of the country's GNP.

A strong legal base would help keep tourism afloat in Ukraine. There would be a law on the qualifications an agency must meet to be licensed. This law also should outline the rights of tourists and tourism agencies which will increase people's confidence in the Ukrainian tourism industry. A law providing this structure awaits Parliament's consideration. The law is to put the Ukrainian tourism industry in line with international standards and demands.

Since August 1994, the Ukrainian State Committee for Tourism, in accordance with the Ukrainian law on entrepreneurial work, licensed more than 800 tourism agencies and organizations. Licensing protects the interests of tou­rists by guaranteeing agencies meet international stan­dards and services, creates equal possibilities for all entrepreneurs at the tourist market, improves services and leads the industry to international norms. Licensing stipu­lates that a tourism agency should have necessary equipment, means of communications, bank account and well-trained personnel.

Ukraine is trying to enter the international market of tourism to popularize Ukrainian tourist potential to attract foreign tourists. We have come to understand that only our joint efforts will help us achieve our goals and bring foreign tourists to Ukraine. In recent years, the Ukrainian tourist industry was presented at tourist ex­changes in London and Berlin, and participated in tourist exhibitions in Warsaw, Helsinki and Poznan, among other cities.

In addition, the Interstate Council for Tourism was established in December 1994 in Minsk (stationed in Kyiv this year) to recreate the common tourist area of the former Soviet Union. After the collapse of the USSR, the tourist organizations of the new independent states became isolated, which had ill effects on the tourism industry in Ukraine. The council intends to re­vive old ties and well-known tourist routes as well as develop cooperation between tourist organizations within the CIS countries.

Crimea organized this year's vacation season better than it did last year. In 1994, Crimean Parliament re­established the old constitution of the independent repub­lic.

This created tension between Ukraine and Crimea and with Russia when it backed Crimea's independence. All this tension scared away would-be holidaymakers and hurt the tourism industry of Ukraine. This year to improve the tourism industry, the peninsula authorities are imple­menting a set of necessary economic measures. These measures stipulate that taxes will be cut in half for resorts to encourage them to increase standards and attract tourists.

The state invested KBV180 billion into reconst­ruction of Artek, an international children's resort near Yalta, according to Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Senchenko. Artek will accommodate 35000 children this summer. The Yalta joint-stock association nearly has finished construction of a 540-room, four star hotel in Miskhor, he said. The Intourist Hotel in Kyiv made improvements to attract customers, too. The hotel bought cars for customers to rent and opened a business center within the hotel equipped with faxes and computers, among other business supplies.

Improved resorts coupled with easier transportation will help the industry. New air routes also are becoming available in the near future. These include flights to Crimea from Arkhangelsk, Rostov, Samara, Nizhniy Novgorod and other Russian cities; and flights to various Ukrainian cities from Turkey, Israel, Hungary, the United States, Canada and Finland.

In addition, the Crimean railway will double the number of long-destination trains. There will be about 80 trolleys uniting Simferopol with Yalta and Simferopol with Alushta. This number will be increased twice during the peninsula's prime resort season.

These measures, coupled with the reshaping of Ukraine's public image by disseminating positive information, should help the tourism industry. Until then the tourism industry's days in the sun will have to wait.

NOTES

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Date: 2016-04-22; view: 985