Page 57 - UKRRptMar21

9.1.7​ TMT sector news
DiDi, China’s giant online taxi service, plans to launch this year in Ukraine,​ reports AIN.ua news site. With 550mn users, tens of millions of users and billions of dollars in revenues, DiDi entered Russia last year, a first step in a plan to expand across Eastern Europe. Last week, DiDi posted on the GRC job search website that is looking for a manager to launch in Ukraine. DiDi will compete with Bolt, Uber and Uklon for Ukraine’s taxi market, estimated by Uklon at $800mn a year. Uber, the first mover in Ukraine, now operates in seven Ukrainian cities and claims that 4.3mn Ukrainians have downloaded its mobile app. Uklon operates in 19 cities and claims nearly 3mn users. Bolt operates in 10 cities and claims 2mn users.
9.1.8 ​Tourism sector news
Ukraine received 3.4mn visits by foreigners. ​The top countries were Ukraine’s land neighbors: Moldova – 933,000; Belarus – 463,500; Russia – 390,000; Poland – 272,000; Romania – 229,000; and Hungary – 217,000. By air, the top countries were: Turkey – 149,000; Germany -- 74,000; Israel – 57,000; and the United States – 42,000.
In January, hotel occupancies were: Lviv - 35%; Kharkiv - 31%; Kyiv - 23%;​ and Odessa - 19%. The average room rate in Kyiv was $57, according to Hotel Matrix, a web-based analytics program connected to 150 hotels nationwide.
In a survey of 172 hotels across Ukraine, 23% predict business will return this year to 2019 levels​ and 57% predict a full return in 2022, reports the Ukrainian Hotel & Resort Association. Horwath HTL Hungary. Last year, two thirds of hotels cut room rates and hotel staff. More than 60% of hotel managers said their revenues shrank by more than 40%. To increase revenue, one quarter rented rooms as temporary offices and one third invested in digital marketing. Revenues grew at seven hotels – all rural retreats.
9.1.9 ​Utilities sector news
The cold weather spike in electricity consumption, a lack of coal, and power plant breakdowns are forcing Eastern Ukraine to import electricity from Belarus and Russia ​and Western Ukraine to import electricity from Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, reports Ukrenergo, the national power distribution company. As of February 15, 19 thermal power plants were offline, pulling 6,270 MW out of the system, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Ukrenergo’s chairman told a forum in Kyiv in February. Electricity consumption in the second week of February was 6.5% more than forecast. But coal reserves fell to one third of required minimums. Thanks to imports, Kudrytskyi does not predict immediate power shortages.
DTEK Group, Ukraine’s largest private power producer, called on the government on February 17 “to abolish price caps, ​which are an obstacle to the liberalization of the electricity market.” The company cited the example of the EU, where the cost of electricity production during peak loads can increase significantly. DTEK said: “We call on the government to intervene in the situation and immediately hold an anti-crisis headquarters with the
57​ UKRAINE Country Report​ March 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com