This year’s winter season in the Carpathians, due to the war and warm weather, turned out to be almost the most difficult in many years. On the one hand, Ukrainians cannot or do not want to afford a traditional winter vacation, on the other hand, the natural conditions for this are not the best. found out what the 2023 winter tourist season is like in Ukraine and how the local tourist business survives in these conditions.

At the beginning of January 2023, a temperature of +14 degrees Celsius was recorded in the popular resort town of Slavske in the Lviv region, of course, without snow. A similar situation is currently observed in most winter resorts of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The abnormal weather was superimposed on the factors caused by the war – constant air raids, blackouts, impoverishment of people, so local business was once again on the edge of survival.

There is snow only in Bukovel

In fact, the only ski resort in Ukraine that currently has snow is Bukovel. True, the snow there is artificial.

According to the founder of one of Lviv’s tourist agencies, Ihor Gubilit, it was possible to provide ski slopes with snow in Bukovel thanks to several conditions. The first is its good location, because the area there is somewhat colder than other parts of the Carpathians. In addition, there is a large lake in Bukovel, which allows you to supply snow cannons with the main raw material – water.

“The skiing business, on the one hand, is highly profitable, on the other hand, it requires a lot of expenses,” Gubilit notes.

In addition, winter vacations have a very short “high season”, in fact, all the main revenues of the resorts are earned in the period from the end of December to the first half of January, when people traditionally find time to rest during the holidays.

“This (high season – ed.) is when New Year’s and Christmas holidays, long weekends coincide with school vacations. Everything else is for “supporting pants,” Gubilit explains.

In addition, he states, global warming also makes its corrections – cold and snowy periods are becoming shorter and shorter, and warm winters are the rule rather than the exception. Moreover, such a situation is observed this year not only in Ukraine, but also in all of Europe, where even the famous ski resorts of the Alps are forced to close due to the lack of snow. Therefore, the business has to switch to other types of recreation. For example, the “Hutsulland” ethnopark and numerous types of spa holidays have appeared in Bukovel. Also, winter hiking is developing more and more actively.

“Now all this has been superimposed on the military circumstances: many Ukrainians cannot rest now – some are in the army, some have gone abroad, some simply cannot afford it. This is why we are getting a collapse in virtually all areas of activity,” Gubilit said.

According to his information, the number of tourists in December was not too different from the previous season, but there were half as many people on New Year’s Day. At the same time, the demand for excursion vacations did not drop so noticeably, but people’s preferences have changed.

“They are very actively interested in Ukrainian traditions and everything related to it. For example, this season there was a great demand for carols, excursions to Kryvorivna were popular, people are also interested in local cuisine,” Gubilit said.

At the same time, the power outage did not greatly affect the work of the tourist industry, because most hotels and restaurants, as well as some estates, have already installed generators, so in fact, on the contrary, tourists can get a little more time with light than at home.

Not for recreation, but to hide from shelling

According to Volodymyr Biga, the head of the ski village of Slavske in the Lviv region, the occupancy of recreation centers at the resort this season is 50-60%. However, now the purpose of the trip has changed – people come not so much for recreation as to hide from shelling for a few days. In addition, if earlier they asked about living conditions, now the first question is whether the hotel has a generator.

But, unfortunately, Slavsky was not lucky with snow this year, so only the Zahar Berkut ski lift works in inspection mode. There is also an artificial snowmaking system for the children’s lift on Mount Pohar, but there are not so many possibilities for skiing there.

At the same time, Biga assures that rest in Slavsky will be safe under war conditions. Yes, if an air raid signal finds a tourist at the top, then this, according to him, is not a problem, since there is enough time to descend into the valley and find a place in the shelter. Also, a power outage is not a problem for the bugel lift, from where you can easily descend in case of urgent need. A more difficult situation with chairlifts is that a generator is absolutely necessary, otherwise it is a very risky climb.

At the same time, according to him, the problems of the ski season did not affect the village budget too much – entrepreneurs continue to pay the tourist tax.

At the same time, this is not the first snowless season for Slavskyi, and it seems that they have already come to some conclusions, creating conditions for recreation at the resort in any weather conditions. There are places to simply walk, there are several refined mountain hiking routes that can be safely covered even in winter. There are also enough restaurants and spa hotels in Slavske, so, in general, you can have a great vacation here even without snow, of course, if skiing is not the main purpose of your trip and you are open to any type of recreation.

In addition, it is easy to get to Skole from Slavske, where there are many walking routes through the Skole Beskydy National Park. You can also order various excursions in Slavsky.

Hotels and estates survive as best they can

Those who are engaged in green tourism still do not lose optimism and hope to survive the problems that arose in their business due to the abnormally warm winter and the war. Although they admit that winter without snow is not at all what their customers expect. Therefore, we have to come up with entertainment that can be offered to guests instead of snow entertainment.

Marta Yakym, manager of a small family homestead in the village of Bilichi, Sambir District, Lviv Region, admits that they largely manage to survive due to their good location near the Smilnytsia checkpoint on the border with Poland. People traveling outside of Ukraine see that this is the closest hotel to the border. Such customers usually arrive late at night and order only dinner and breakfast, after which they move on.

The owners of the estate, which opened in the fall of 2021 and closed with the start of the war, say that after reopening in August 2022, they had to increase the cost of living by 10%. This was influenced by the increase in the price of household chemicals and food, which is supplied to their guests by a nearby restaurant. However, usually their residents rarely order food – they go here to grill barbecues themselves in the fresh air.

Since the hotel is located in the low-mountain part of the Carpathians, the lack of snow here is compensated by quad biking, swimming in tubs and a trampoline for children.

But Halyna Mokan, the owner of a small family hotel with 10 rooms in the village of Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, said that, in fact, the only direction that allows her to somehow support the hotel is children’s tourism.

“Kyiv city administration ordered something, they are also calling from Dnipro, asking about recreation for children,” Halyna says.

However, even thanks to this type of tourism, her small hotel is 20% full, so even fully heating it is unprofitable. The fact is that even if such a vacation is organized by the city authorities of other regions, they usually pay for only part of the vacation, and parents still have to pay a certain percentage, but even this relatively small amount is unaffordable for many.

“Last year, the hotel was full from December 25 to February 15, and this year tourists are coming only for major holidays: Christmas, New Year, Malanka, Vasyl, and Epiphany,” says Halyna.

Since there is no snow this year, we have to adapt the program to the current conditions – to transport people in carriages, on horseback, to hold workshops on making Hutsul cheese, etc. For the latter, Halyna Mokan’s farm has its own cheese museum. Tourists are also interested in the “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” museum located in the village.

According to Mokan, the main reason for the decrease in the number of tourists in the Carpathians this winter is the war, and as a result of it – the impoverishment of people. The second reason is the lack of snow. Be that as it may, a snowless winter still loses its color and attractiveness.

At the same time, the small number of tourists leads to the fact that the business becomes unprofitable. In the case of this hotel, it is generally unprofitable to host tourists for one night. A double room at Halyna’s costs 400 hryvnias, but if a group comes that fills the entire hotel, they get a discount. At the same time, the cost of an overnight stay is even lower than last season.

As for food, the European breakfast here costs UAH 90 (meat or cheese slices, omelet or scrambled eggs, pancakes with cheese, tea and coffee), lunch with the first course costs UAH 120. Halyna notes that they do not use hired labor, so they do everything themselves, including cooking.

Nevertheless, Halyna hopes to survive the fact that there are no tourists this season: “We have our own farm, three cows, horses, pigs, we have enough supplies for the winter, so we should survive this winter, there is no big problem.”

Failed season due to fear of judgment

There is one more reason that seriously undermined the Carpathian tourism business – the unfortunate “not on time”. Since the summer, psychologists have tried to prove that a responsible rest during the war, without ostentation and excessive fun, is not a moral crime at all, but the need to maintain mental health. However, probably due to the fear of public condemnation, neither at the central level, nor at the local level, tourism and recreation were not popularized at all.

But, it would seem, with a competent approach, the resorts of the Ukrainian Carpathians, on the contrary, could well fill a niche that is currently closed to many foreign vacationers – because no one forbids men to go here, they can get there faster, especially due to the lack of air connections, and it is cheaper – at least due to the fact that due to the devaluation of the hryvnia, vacations abroad for Ukrainians have become more expensive at least twice, also considering the fact that inflation has not escaped other countries either.

Perhaps, after all, it is time to return to the healthy promotion of tourism in Ukraine during the war. Of course, we will have to work on adapting the advertising strategy and offer to the needs of wartime, including by shifting the emphasis from purely recreational recreation to mental health recovery and rest from the stress of missile attacks and blackouts. Believe me, this will benefit both business and, accordingly, the entire economy of Ukraine, as well as ordinary Ukrainians, who still have the right to rest and recuperate even during war.

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Climatologists warn that by the end of the 21st century in Europe, the classic skiing vacation, focused exclusively on the conquest of snow-covered mountain slopes by fans of skis and snowboards, may completely disappear. Therefore, local resorts are already advised to consider options for reorienting the format of recreation and attracting tourists even in warm winters. Ukrainian resorts should also think about this, because someday the war will end, the economy will recover, but there will be no more snow.

Oleksandr Syrtsov, Maryna Grihorenko