10-year-old Khur, 12-year-old Abudi, and 3-year-old Harer wove wreaths in the park "Kyiv Rus", looked at deer in Mezhyhirya, and rode scooters around Kyiv with their parents – Hani and Ahmed. This family from Saudi Arabia, instead of their usual summer vacation in Europe, came to Ukraine for the first time. Guide Lelya Filimonova showed them Kyiv and its surroundings for five days.
If earlier she never had Arab tourists on her tours, this summer almost every day – both individual tours and large groups. "We rode a boat, visited museums of Ukrainian folk life, and walked a lot around the city." Arab tourists were delighted with Kyiv, says guide Lelya Filimonova.
According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, in the first half of 2021 alone, more than 17 thousand tourists from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain visited Ukraine. This is tens of times more than in previous years. Saudis are in first place – more than 14 thousand.
"It really looks like a tourist boom; guests from Arab countries in Ukraine are now more numerous than from other countries. In hotels, they occupy up to 50% of rooms," notes Maryana Oleskiv, head of the State Agency for Tourism Development.
Rain, greenery, and low-cost carriers
"You should see how Arabs rejoice when it starts to rain. It's such an explosion of emotions! No one here rejoices in rain like they do. They have heat there, but we have coolness," says Alexandra Gagarina, deputy director of the Dniester Hotel in Lviv, where this summer Arab tourists are the most numerous foreign guests. According to her, the most popular rooms in the hotel are not those with a city view, but those with a park view, so that greenery is visible from the window.
They film thunderstorms on their phones and call relatives to show the rain, photograph every tree, are delighted by forests, waterfalls, and mountains, ride scooters and water attractions – this is how Ukrainian guides and hoteliers describe the leisure of Arab tourists.
In Arab media, dozens of publications are devoted to Ukraine. Due to quarantine in Europe, Arab tourists were forced to look for new travel destinations and thus discovered Ukraine. Tickets to Kyiv and Lviv are in high demand in Saudi Arabia, and the number of flights had to be increased.
Last summer, Ukraine introduced a visa-free regime for citizens of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman. In January 2021, Kyiv and Riyadh signed an air service agreement. Now dozens of direct flights fly from Saudi Arabia to Ukraine per week.
A promotional campaign for Lviv appeared on the social networks of the international low-cost carrier Flynas, and many Arab tourists appeared on the streets of Lviv. The Ukrainian airline SkyUp also launched charter flights from Saudi Arabia to Lviv in July. Most seats on these flights are sold in package tours with accommodation in five-star hotels in Lviv and Bukovel.
Europe closed due to quarantine, open Ukraine, and a huge number of flights are the main reasons for the Arab tourist boom, experts believe. "The number of guests in hotels grew in proportion to the increase in the number of flights. Immediately with the launch of the first flights in June, we felt an influx of Arab tourists," says Kristina Kaguy, head of the resort hotel department of the Reikartz Hotel Group.
Arab tourists come in large families, with parents and children, usually for 10-14 days. They manage to spend several days in Kyiv, Lviv, and the Carpathians. Slightly fewer go to Odesa, says Lelya Filimonova about the routes of Arab tourists in Ukraine.
"This is my first visit to Ukraine, and I am amazed by everything. Lviv has such wonderful architecture, especially the old houses," says tourist from Saudi Arabia Hanna. One of the difficult moments of the trip, Hanna calls the difficulties with translation and the menu in restaurants, where there are so many pork dishes. But, according to her, everything is easily solved with the help of a phone and an online translator. She even managed to try borscht without meat.
"You have very open and friendly people. It's very nice," says the tourist. Ukraine, according to her, they chose because other European countries are closed for travel: "Travel without visas, without mandatory quarantine – these are the main reasons why we are here."
Big money
"We predicted that the Arab market would reach us, but we did not expect so many tourists. It's just a miracle. The whole world is fighting for these tourists. They spend a lot of money, go shopping. In Lviv, there are not enough minivans for them, because they are used to traveling in comfort and with large families," says the deputy director of the Dniester Hotel in Lviv.
According to expert estimates, the expenses of one such tourist in Ukraine are about three thousand dollars. That is, several tens of millions of dollars have already been spent. "Thanks to these tourists, our tourism market is reviving. Many hotels in Kyiv are much busier than in the same period of 2019. Few countries can boast such indicators," notes Maryana Oleskiv.
According to her observations, the regions with good hotels and good infrastructure benefited most from this influx of tourists: "An Arab tourist requires a high level of service, quality accommodation, food, attractions for family recreation."
Rooms with a large area and several bedrooms are in demand; there are special requirements for the bathroom – bidet, hygienic showers. Usually they travel as couples or large families, often needing to comfortably accommodate 5-6 people in one room, says Kristina Kaguy. According to her, in July the number of guests from the Gulf countries in Reikartz exceeded June figures by four times.
In five-star hotels, Arab guests stay for three days or longer, paying an average of 200 euros per day, says Valeria Sekisova, Director of Sales and Marketing at Premier Hotels and Resorts. Over 2,000 guests from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have stayed at the five-star Hilton Kyiv hotel in the last two months.
At the Hilton, the restaurant menu and welcome letters have been translated into Arabic, and more halal dishes have been added. In the lobby, tourists can take a Quran and prayer rugs, and backgammon, a popular game in Arab families, has been purchased for lounge areas.
Advertising in Arabic and Sheep
Ukrainian businesses quickly adapted to the new tourists, and restaurant menus are now filled with Arabic script, shares Yuriy Tsymbal, manager of the Ribas Karpaty hotel, which has been hosting Arab tourists since June.
"We were among the first to do this. We removed pork dishes from the Arabic menu and added chicken and meat with a 'halal' certificate. We added dishes from Eastern cuisine—falafel, hummus, couscous, eggplant—so that they would have familiar dishes. But they also love our sweets, fruits, and berries. They order deruny and halal borscht," says Alexandra Gagarina.
In the Carpathians, advertising, menus, and even inscriptions on coffee machines are increasingly seen in Arabic, as well as many ads for selling sheep. During Kurban Bayram, one of the main Muslim holidays, which fell from July 19 to 23 this year, a sheep is sacrificed. And shashlik or lamb lula kebab is a popular dish among Arab tourists.
Yuriy Tsymbal tells a story of how a sheep was sacrificed according to all religious rules right in the room of one of the Bukovel apartment hotels, which came as a big surprise to the staff.
In Bukovel, prices have risen significantly due to the influx of Arab tourists. And Arab bloggers who have visited Ukraine are urging their compatriots to check prices, because in the Arabic version of the menu they may be inflated.
"Overall, Arab guests are not conflict-prone if you know their laws and respect their rules. Of course, as in any field, misunderstandings can arise, but they are easily resolved and are not related to nationality," says Elena Voytinskaya, Public Relations Manager at Hilton Kyiv. For example, they cannot be photographed. Therefore, if there are any Arab tourists in the hotel lobby, photographers are not allowed in.
"The idea that they come here for sex tourism is a misconception. We have never had so many families traveling. This is family vacation," says Alexandra Gagarina. "Arab tourists leave considerable funds in our economy. We need to adapt to the specifics of their culture," notes Oleskiv.
It is predicted that closer to winter, the number of Arab tourists coming to Ukraine will decrease—it will get cold. However, there is hope that in winter they will be replaced by skiers, and next summer the Arabs will return.