REUTERS
The number of tourists who visited Ukraine in the first half of 2017 (H1) grew by 8.7% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 6.3 million people, according to the Economic Development and Trade Ministry's press service.
The State Border Guard Service said that 19,200 people indicated tourism as the purpose of their visit to Ukraine in H1 2017. However, according to the classification of the UN World Tourism Organization, those who cross the border with official, business, private, and religious purposes, as well as for transit, tourism and training, cultural and sports exchange, etc., are also classified as tourists.
"To sum up, we can report that 6.3 million tourists entered Ukraine in the first half of 2017, which is 8.7% up y-o-y [5.8 million tourists]. According to the State Border Guard Service, 13.6 million foreigners entered Ukraine in 2016, which was 5.6% up against 2015. The number of tourists visiting Ukraine continues to grow," the ministry said.
Read alsoUkraine launches national tourist Internet portal As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Ministry jointly with the state-owned PrivatBank, Visa International Service Association, the national tour operator Join Up and Amadeus company launched a new tourist project on August 1, namely the Tourist of Ukraine national loyalty system. The loyalty program is designed to allow tourists to accumulate points during payments in cash, which can be redeemed during purchases. The program operates in the cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa.