By KYIV. Dec 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The tourism industry is strategically important for Ukraine, said Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development and Infrastructure of Ukraine Serhiy Derkach.
“Strategically, it is important for the country to develop the tourism industry. We cannot pause tourism issues today and will definitely work with you to develop this industry,” Derkach said during the National Tourism Summit.
The summit, organized by the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine and Chernivtsi City Council, was attended by MPs, heads of specialized structural divisions of city councils and regional state administrations, representatives of international tourism organizations and leading experts in the tourism industry of Ukraine.
The head of the State Agency for Tourism Development, Maryana Oleskiv, noted that the Ukrainian tourism market was able to adapt to the crisis.
“The forced pause in the development of many tourist destinations allows us to structure and systematize Ukrainian tourism. The most important thing we are already doing is helping local communities across the country become self-sufficient, find their own unique path of tourism development. We are working to ensure that local communities definitely understood that gold was literally under their feet,” Oleskiv said.
The speeches of more than 30 Ukrainian and international speakers who participated in five panel discussions were united by one message – we need to work on restoring the industry today, so that after our victory we will be ready to receive guests from all over the world, build new partnerships and show that Ukraine has not disappeared from a tourist map of the world.
Mayor of Chernivtsi Roman Klychuk, speaking to the participants and guests of the first National Tourism Summit, emphasized that despite the war, we need to work on the development of tourism in the region now.
“Chernivtsi is an underrated city in terms of tourism, I believe that we should not compete with cities like Lviv or Uzhgorod, but rather complement it so that foreigners who plan a trip to Ukraine have a desire to visit as many original cities in our country as possible,” Klychuk said.
