Foreigners keep coming to Ukraine, as business and volunteer visits turn into travel, says tourism development chief

Even under martial law, Ukraine continues to receive foreign visitors, many of whom arrive on business or humanitarian grounds. Yet many of these visits, while not formally considered tourism, still involve travel across the country and engagement with the local tourism sector. Others come with the explicit aim of discovering Ukraine.

Natalia Tabaka, head of the State Agency for Tourism Development, outlined these trends during a recent briefing at Media Center Ukraine.

“We have foreigners who come to Ukraine for business, volunteer, or to help Ukrainians,” she said. “It’s hard to distinguish between tourists and non-tourists, but everyone who comes to us, whether for business or volunteering, is already starting a journey. They check into hotels and use services just like tourists. But there are also those who come specifically to explore the country.”

Tabaka acknowledged that most foreign insurance companies do not provide coverage for travel to Ukraine due to security concerns. Still, this lack of formal protection hasn’t deterred visitors.

“Foreigners cannot come to us for tourism purposes because insurance companies cannot provide insurance payments for them,” she said. “But individual travelers do come, they use tourist services, and when they return home, they are actually our ambassadors.”

According to Tabaka, foreign visitors tend to gravitate toward cities located along the routes to their primary destinations. Kyiv remains the most visited location, a fact reflected in the capital’s leading share of tourist tax revenue.

“The most frequently visited cities are, of course, those that are on the way to their goal,” she explained. “This is mostly evidenced by the tourist tax, which is highest in Kyiv. Kyiv is the center of attraction, and people stop at places on their way there.”

Sites associated with the russia-Ukraine war, particularly those linked to moments of tragic events and heroic acts, have also emerged as points of interest and are being incorporated into a national route of remembrance.

“Among the places we visit are also places where certain tragic stories of the russian-Ukrainian war and heroic moments took place,” Tabaka said. “In fact, these are the places of memory that are now being formed in Ukraine into a national route of memory sites to tell about these tragic and heroic pages of Ukraine.”

Tabaka also pointed to culture, architecture, national cuisine, and the opportunity to interact with Ukrainians as key motivations driving continued foreign interest in Ukraine.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news