UKRAINE-CRIMEA-TOURISTS

Simferopol, July 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some 2.64 million tourists have already holidayed in Crimea since the beginning of 2012, which was 5.2% more than the figure for 2011, the Crimean resort and information center reported on Tuesday, citing Crimean Resorts and Tourism Minister Oleksandr Liyev.

“The geography of tourists is changing positively. The eastern, western and central regions in Crimea are more popular this year. In 2011, the situation with tourist flows to the regions in Crimea was the opposite – due to the crisis in Belarus, the eastern and northwestern regions of Crimea went through the season at a level of minus 5%,” Liyev said.

In addition, he said that the amount of funds invested in the upgrading of accommodation facilities significantly increased in 2012. He said that about UAH 1 billion had been invested by the beginning of the tourist season, whereas in 2010 the figure was UAH 470 million.

[UA EUROPE EEU EMRG POL]

PA

18:58:22 EET-2