“No to tourist quarantine in Ukraine!” – a dying small business went to a rally
A protest rally by representatives of the tourism, restaurant, hotel and entertainment industries was held at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Entrepreneurs are protesting the Cabinet of Ministers' decision to once again close Ukraine's borders to foreigners, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
This decision kills inbound tourism in the country, said Natalia Soboleva, a representative of the Ukrainian Association of Inbound Tour Operators.
“The entrance began to come to life, some groups and businessmen arrived. Perhaps they were coming here and planning to come here to establish some kind of business relationship, to bring their business to Ukraine. And now we have received a message about the closure of borders in September. And what should we tell our tourists, our partners who have already purchased tickets, booked hotels, or planned a vacation? We have obligations. We respond in accordance with agreements with our partners. And this is a question of the image of Ukraine as a tourist destination. Who will come to us in October if the situation is so uncertain?” she said.
“The new president, the new government always starts reforms with private entrepreneurs, with small businesses. They don’t care about customs, theft from the budget, mineral resources – only micro-businesses,” said Liliya Cherednichenko, a representative of the Save FOP movement.
The head of the Association of Chernobyl Tour Operators, Yaroslav Emelianenko, said that Chernobyl tourism alone brought about UAH 3 billion to the country’s economy. last year, and now everyone who works in this field is losing their source of livelihood.
“For three or four months we have been without work, while maintaining huge teams. We only tried to get closer to getting less negative indicators and they gave us another lockdown. A lot of organizations no longer survived, they died. Those that survived now had to somehow turn positive. Now this decision is simply killing us, to the end. We are categorically against resolving any political issues. A lot of people have already “traveled” at our expense. This time it’s too much,” said Yaroslav Emelianenko.
He also said that his association intended to drive an armored personnel carrier belonging to it to the Cabinet of Ministers, but it was detained at the entrance to the government quarter.
Closing the borders also kills the entertainment industry in the capital of Ukraine and deprives Kiev of the opportunity to become “Berlin,” as President Vladimir Zelensky spoke about in the promotional video he published on Independence Day, said Anton Nekrasov, art director of the Forsage dance club.
“The coronavirus will not go away in a month or a year... this decision of the Cabinet of Ministers is a death sentence for our industry. We were closed not for two months, but forever.
Without clubs, without concerts, Kyiv will not be so attractive for tourists. The President declares that Kyiv is the new Berlin, and he himself calls for this “Berlin” in Kyiv to be destroyed. I don't know if he realizes what he's doing. I hope this is just some kind of mistake,” said Anton Nekrasov.
Those gathered held posters with the inscriptions “Open Ukraine now!”, “We have our own Berlin #notexactly”, “It’s not COVID that kills, but inadequate management”, “Ukraine is an open country!”, “Bring life back to tourist Ukraine! Return tourism to Ukraine!”, “Zelensky for the development of tourism?”, “My work = my life”, “Clubs, bars, restaurants, someone’s fathers and mothers work in them!”, “Green zone of double standards”, “Unemployed Club”, etc.
They chanted slogans: “Stop tourist quarantine!”, “Ukraine is an open country!”, “Open Ukraine now!”
After the rally, representatives of small businesses submitted their demands to the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers.
"No to the tourist quarantine in Ukraine!" – dying small businesses rally