Page 70 - UKRRptSept19

“promising” markets for medical tourism here, reported Violetta Yanyshevska, president of the Association of Medical Tourism. Last year, about 60,000 foreign tourists came to Ukraine for medical treatment, spending nearly $150mn.
Last year, 300,000 tourists traveled from Israel to Ukraine and 170,000 tourists traveled from Ukraine to Israel, Yoel Leon, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, said during the ceremony which was attended by President Zelenskiy and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, Igor Kolmoisky’s business partner at Privat Group. Privat controls UIA, which flies pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Vinnytsia and to Kyiv Boryspil. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov promised to have sufficient police officers on hand to control the crowds at Uman and at the airports.
Chinese visitors account for 60% of the 20,000 new online e-visas issued by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry since the start of the year. Far behind, are Australians – 12% -- and Saudis – 9%. About 85% of the visas are issued to tourists. The visas are available to the citizens of 52 countries.
Kyiv hotel occupancies dropped by one percentage point during the first half of last, to 48%, reports Jones LaSalle. The real estate consultancy blamed the drop on the fall in business travel after December’s martial law and a travel spike last May for the Champions League football final. in Kyiv. The average rate for staying in top-end hotels in January-June 2019 fell by 15% compared to the first half of last year, to $153 per room. For mid-segment hotels, the rate fell by 11%, to $69. At the same time, the occupancy of top hotels fell to 43%. For middle hotels, occupancies rose by 1.5 percentage points, to 53%. Depressing the city’s hotel business, Airbnb has over 9,000 listings for Kyiv.
9.1.10 Renewables sector news
By the end of June, electricity generation from renewables hits 585mn kwh – almost three times the level of one year earlier. Renewables share of national electricity production hit 5%, compared to 1.8% one year earlier. Excluding large scale hydro, Ukraine’s installed capacity of renewable energy is: solar -- 2,640 MW; wind - 777 MW; biogas - 66.4 MW; and biomass -- 51.3 MW.
The European Investment Bank is to loan Ukraine $250mn, largely for the construction of biomass-based energy generators for Kernel, the nation’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil. The Cabinet of Ministers voted to authorize Finance Minister Oksana Markarova to sign the loan letter.
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Ukraine, home to Europe’s largest lithium reserves, is bound to benefit from the projected surge in electric vehicles over the next 30 years, according to a study by Wood Mackenzie, the Scotland-based renewables, metals, and mining research group. World supplies of lithium, cobalt, and nickel will be exhausted if electric vehicle technologies do not evolve, warns Gavin Montgomery, head of research at Wood Mackenzie. Ukraine also has deposits of cobalt and nickel in the Krivorozhsky Basin. The Rada is to take up legislation to promote investment in electric battery and vehicle production in Ukraine.
70 UKRAINE Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com