< p _ngcontent-sc89="" class="news-annotation">From February 24, the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine is 8 million. Read more in the exclusive blog for Channel 24 website.

Unknown Ukraine is trending

People who had not previously traveled outside their region (and before the war there were about 70%) today come to charity excursions in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lvov. They will find out what their country really is.

One ​​of these tourist magnets, attracting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and not only with its color and authenticity, was the Malanka Festival in Chernivtsi, launched in 2011 tourist public organization “Palette of Bukovina”.

For the city, the organization of such an event is very important in terms of tourist attraction and attracting additional investment. For comparison, in the first year of the festival's existence (2011), 230 thousand tourists visited Chernivtsi, and in 2019 – already 650 thousand. Every year the festival attracts foreigners and people from different regions of Ukraine who stay in the city for several days, enjoying traditional holidays.

On the one hand, we popularize the city, our local folklore and color, on the other hand, the city makes money on the fact that tourists come. All parties are interested in developing such events, – says the head of the Department of Socio-Economic Development and Strategic Planning of the Chernivtsi City Council Serhiy Bostan.

” Hooks” for tourists

He advises cities to work on two blocks to increase tourist attraction. Firstly, you need to spread information about the city as much as possible, create its official pages on social networks so that guests can know and hear what is happening there.

In- secondly, it is necessary to saturate the city with events in order to offer tourists more opportunities to relax, relax and get vivid emotions.

How the Malanka Festival is held in Chernivtsi: video

Travel around your native land

Now the organizers of the festival arrange charitable excursions around Chernivtsi for internally displaced persons, and all the money earned is transferred to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Travel agency manager Natalya Antonyuk says that with the onset of the pandemic, the demand for travel in Ukraine has increased significantly, especially among those who usually travel around the world. The most popular tourist spots are, of course, the sea coast and the Carpathian region. In addition, these are Askania-Nova, Pink Lakes, castles of the Ternopil region, Stanislav steeps, the Golden Horseshoe of the Lviv region and the like.

“However, our goal is to develop Ukrainian cities that have not yet been discovered by Ukrainian tourists,” shares Chairman of the State Tourism Development Agency of Ukraine Maryana Oleskiv.

According to her, the main problem for tourism in Chernivtsi was the lack of convenient tourist communications. However, the Ministry of Infrastructure has already begun work on this, including the opening of the Chernivtsi airport.

According to statistics, in 2021, the budget of Ukrainian communities received 244 million hryvnias of tourist tax. We understand that Ukraine can compete for international tourists, but this requires a creative approach, built partnerships, quality services and infrastructure, availability of information in foreign languages, at least in English.

Relevant – what Zelensky said about Ukrainian tourism in 2021: watch the video