More Norwegians are witnessing Ukraine’s tourism potential.
March this year 80 students from the University of Oslo travelled to Ukraine to study and enjoy the pulsing city life of Kyiv and Lviv. Why did they choose to travel to Ukraine? Last year their fellow student visited Ukraine for the first time. She fell in love with the country, its history and language, and she even wrote an article about her visit in a local Norwegian newspaper. Later, when her student friends were planning a trip where leisure and studies were to be combined on a fair budget, without the blink of an eye, she recommended them to go to Ukraine. Other student groups from the same university also followed suit and travelled to Ukraine in April.
The first half of 2017 shows very positive trends in Ukrainian-Norwegian trade relations. There is approximately 36% growth in export from Norway to Ukraine, and around 50% growth in import of Ukrainian products to Norway compared to the same period previous year. We witness a generic growth in all sectors, largely thanks to continued stabilization of the Ukrainian economy and positive results from the reform process. More and more Norwegian companies discover the enormous potential in cooperating with Ukrainian businesses
The highly educated population combined with its comparatively cheap labor costs are two factors that make Ukraine one of the most attractive places to invest. Delicious food, beautiful architecture and good service for low prices make Ukraine also one of the most interesting destinations for tourists. In Norway an expert panel in Adressa.no recently recommended Lviv as your next destination for 2017 for Norwegian tourists.
NUCC recently organized a study trip for four Norwegian tour operators to Kyiv, Lviv and the Carpathians. During the visit, the tour operators had the possibility to get an update on the political situation from the Embassy of Norway and talk to the Head of Tourism Department at the Kyiv City State Administration, which recently launched “Kyiv Pass” after being inspired by “Oslo Pass” when visiting Oslo for a tourism promotion event this spring hosted by NUCC, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Embassy.
The recent visit to Kyiv was accompanied by delicious
Ukrainian food sponsored by “Dmytro Borysov’s Gastrofamily” – Ostanya Barykada, Kanapa and Kanapka Bar in particular, as well as a tasty breakfast at the family of French restaurants “Tres Francais”.
Visiting Lviv with its spectacular churches, theme restaurants and cozy coffee houses made the most impression on the tour operators. “One can spend weeks here without getting bored. It feels like Prague or Krakow but different, it has its own style. Norwegian tourists will definitely like Lviv” says one of the participants.
The tour operators also had a constructive meeting with the City mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyy, and Deputy mayor for development issues, Andriy Moskalenko, where suggestions for developm
ent of tourism between Ukraine and Norway were discussed. A crucial challenge that needs to be solved is establishing direct flights between Ukraine and Norway, which has not been operating since 2013. In this regard, the Lviv City Administration was happy to announce that Lviv airport has launched a campaign to give 80% discount the first year for new airline companies that start flights to Lviv. As of today, travelers have the opportunity to fly to Lviv with connecting flights from Poland, Kyiv or other European capitals.
“Kyiv is a hart of Ukraine and Lviv is its soul” said City Mayr of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyy at the meeting with tour operators.
Hopefully we will see even more Norwegian tourists in Ukraine soon. One of the companies participated in NUCC study trip is already sending the first group of Norwegians to Ukraine. In the meanwhile, NUCC is constantly working on developing relations between Ukraine and Norway and these days we have a tour for Norwegians IT companies to the biggest IT events in Eastern Europe – Lviv IT Arena and in October 60 farmers from Norway will visit Ukraine to learn more about the country and its agriculture.
