Ukraine's Tourism Agency, Google sign memorandum of cooperation

The Ukrainian State Agency for Tourism Development and U.S. tech giant Google on November 2 signed a memorandum of cooperation, providing for joint work on the digital transformation of the tourism industry in Ukraine.

This was announced by the head of the agency, Mariana Oleskiv, on Facebook on November 2.

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"The memorandum of cooperation between the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine and Google has been signed today. This is an important step towards the development of the tourism industry and digital transformation of Ukraine," he said.

In particular, the parties agreed to cooperate in the following areas: the exchange of experience in organizing and implementing tourism programs; organizing and conducting workshops, lectures, case studies; cooperation and assistance in various tourist activities: the exchange of information on participation in major Ukrainian and international forums; the exchange of experience in the field of implementation of innovative information technologies.

Chronology of events

• In September, the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy prepared and announced that it would soon register an updated bill on tourism.
• On September 15, the bill on amendments to the Tax Code to reduce VAT rates for a number of services in the field of culture, creative industries and tourism passed its first reading.
• The global tourism industry in January-August 2020 lost about US$730 billion due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the introduction of quarantine-related restrictions worldwide on travel abroad.