Page 63 - UKRRptNov18

than the market. I hope we will reach 30% plus by the last year.” Facing a shortage of qualified personnel, he said his company is working with universities to modernize their curricula.
9.1.8 Tourism sector news
Kyiv’s upper end hotels saw their average daily room rates grow by 10%
this summer, to $175, Jones Lang LaSalle Ukraine reports. At the same time, May-August, the occupancy rate grew by only 1.6 percentage points, to 47%. For midscale hotels, in the same year over year summer comparison, the occupancy rate rose five points, to 56%. At the same time, midscale hotel room rates dropped by 10%, to $80.
The number of Ukrainian adults holding EU-friendly biometric passports has more than tripled in the last year -- from 7% in June 2017 to 24% in August 2018, according to polls conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Ukrainian holders of biometric passports can visit the EU for 90 days out of each 180. Respondents who say the visa-free regime is important to them has increased from 39% in June 2017 to 48% in August. Respondents who actually travel to the EU vary sharply according to region: West – 34%; centre –12%; South – 10%; and East – 8%.
For inbound tourism, 9.6mn foreigners visited Ukraine in the first half of the year . The most popular cities were: Kyiv -- 1.8mn; Lviv -- 1.5mn; Zakarpattia -- 800,000; Odesa -- 600,000; and Kharkiv -- 500,000.
9.1.9 Utilities sector news
Renewable energy capacity has increased by 38% y/y , hitting 1,800 MW, according to the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission. With solar and wind accounting for 97% of new facilities, 106 MW were commissioned from July to September, 2.4 times the amount during the same period last year. Kherson, a sunny, southern region with windy coastlines, attracted 57% of all renewable investment in the third quarter. Renewable energy accounts for 1.8% of electricity, well short of the official goal of 11% in 2020.
Since 2015, $1bn has been invested in renewable energy projects in Ukraine, Serhiy Savchuk, State Department of Energy Efficiency, told Kyiv’s International Sustainable Energy Forum on Tuesday. One fast growing segment – often overlooked, he said – is rooftop solar. So far, $100mn has been invested in 4,660 of these household and factory projects. He called on the Rada to approve a government bill to replace the ‘green tariff’ in 2020 with auctions for electricity produced by solar farms larger than 10 MW and by wind farms larger than 20 MW.
Investments in solar and wind power this year will pay off with a two thirds jump next year over 2018 levels in electricity generation from renewables, the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry predicts. By sector, renewable productions and year over year growths are: solar up 87% to 1.65bn kWh; wind up 70% to 1.55bn kWh; small hydro up 19% to 250mn kWh; and biogas and others up 25% to 300mn kWh.
63 UKRAINE Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com