How is Odesa preparing for Euro 2012?

Odesa already has the most top-quality hotels in Ukraine. Twelve more are under construction for Euro 2012, eight of which will be five-star and the others, four-star. Ten existing hotel complexes are being remodeled. There are 74 hotels in Odesa, including two- and three-star ones, but in accordance with UEFA requirements, lower-rate hotels are not part of the program of preparations for the soccer championships.

To accommodate fans, soccer players, and visitors to the championships, Odesa will have built 9 five- and 13 four-star hotels by the end of 2011. Odesa’s central Chornomorets Stadium, which will host the championship qualifying matches, is being revamped to the tune of $320 million. The foundation of the future elite-class sports complex is being laid without interrupting Ukrainian teams’ regular soccer game schedule.

ACCOMMODATING GUESTS WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM

The lack of five- and four-star hotels is a problem for Ukraine. Odesa, however, is making visible progress: the city already has 14 four-star hotels, the largest number in Ukraine, and it plans to increase the number to 20. Most of the new hotels will be built in the city’s historic center, where a number of construction sites fenced off by high barriers have sprung up.

Dmytro Zabolotny, deputy head of the tourism department at the Odesa Regional State Administration, said: “Intensive preparations for the 2012 championships are underway. We’re working on the problem of accommodating guests, players, and fans. Unlike the other Ukrainian cities that are involved in the Euro 2012 project, the easiest solution to this problem exists in Odesa. It is a resort city, and new hotels are being built while old ones are being remodeled. After all the work is done, we will have around 36,000 rooms.”

Today Odesa only has 26,000 hotel rooms. There are four business-class hotels on Derybasivska Street: the Continental, Frapoli, Spartak, and Bolshoi Moskovsky, which is being remodeled (it was built before 1917). Its walls are covered with nets and tarpaulin, so there is no way to see what’s going on there.

“Since the Bolshoi Moskovsky Hotel belongs to the city’s old stock of hotels, its owners were forced to preserve the exterior of the structure,” Zabolotny explained. “But various experts said this was practically impossible because the building rested on Odesa’s catacombs. In the end, the hotel was torn down in the spring, and they’re rebuilding it according to the original designs but using modern construction technologies. Foundation work is underway right now. The hotel must be built by December 2011. The Seamen’s Palace will also be revamped and converted into a 136-room five-star hotel.”

In order to house the championship sponsors, Odesa wants to lease five-star cruise boats, with some four-star ones in reserve. Zabolotny says that deals are being negotiated with the ships’ owners. If they agree, the organizers of the soccer competition will have 1,890 cabins available on five-star ships and 938 on four-star vessels. There are also various kinds of resorts and tourist lodges that can accommodate more than 160,000 people.

ELITE-CLASS CHORNOMORETS HOTEL

A modern, elite-class sports complex will be built near Odesa’s central Chornomorets Stadium. While UEFA experts have issued four stars to Dnipropetrovsk’s Dnipro Stadium, Odesa’s Chornomorets Stadium will get a higher rating.

The renovations began last spring. The developers say that the paperwork took a long time before they could start the construction work. Right now, the main problem is combining the work with Ukrainian teams’ regular soccer games.

“The stadium continues to function. In keeping with the state program, the Odesa stadium of the Army Sports Club had to be transferred to investors to prepare it for Ukraine’s soccer championships, while the Chornomorets was scheduled to be closed for renovations,” Zabolotny explained. He added that “problems cropped up about transferring the stadium to private ownership. So in order to save time, the renovations are being done at the same as soccer matches are taking place at the central stadium.”

Half the seats in the stadium are reserved for fans, while building cranes are already digging the foundation in another part of the complex. After this they will start assembling all the structure’s components. One section of the stadium has already been torn down – all you can see is raw earth and deep pits for the foundation – while the rest of the stadium looks unchanged, with yellow and blue seats, billboards, and booths for the teams’ coaches.

Fans are not happy with the remaining section of the stadium because the seating capacity has been halved. But they have been promised that if they wait patiently for the stadium to be revamped, it will be unrecognizable. Each of the stadium’s three storeys will be built with an eye to the different categories of fans: ordinary ticket buyers or VIPs (with corresponding service). Outwardly it will look like the Dnipro Stadium in Dnipropetrovsk, with its spherical roof, modern billboards, and VIP areas.

The deputy head of the tourism department at the Odesa Regional State Administration says that the soccer field will be the last thing to be revamped: a drainage system will be installed and the right kind of turf planted. There will be two 14-story apartment buildings erected near the stadium: an office center and a five-star hotel with 250 rooms. There will be fan-zones with large billboards built near cloverleaves (highway junctions) and railroad stations where people will be able to watch soccer meets on large TV screens (every fan-zone can accommodate up to 5,000 viewers).

Experts also insist that security arrangements during the soccer meets will not be a problem; the stadium is equipped with various security features, including emergency exit routes, parking lots, and counterterrorist measures. Some of the security details remain secret, as they are the responsibility of special departments of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

City Hall is also worried about using the new sports complex after the championships. It will have a seating capacity of more than 35,000, but there is no guarantee that such a large number of fans will attend games played by Ukrainian teams after the European championships.

Zabolotny says that his city is counting on its tourism potential. “I don’t think Odesa will have any problems here, especially since we’re planning to set up a cruise port terminal. Ships will cast anchor, their crews will be relieved, and tourists will disembark and embark. This is standard practice for any port-city that can accommodate cruise vessels for a couple of days. So our hotels will have enough customers, although half the seats at the stadium will remain empty,” said Odesa’s tourism chief.

Just to make sure, the construction of another stadium with a seating capacity of 20,000 will begin soon in the northern district of Odesa. But the local authorities think that this stadium won’t end up being used because the renovations at the Chornomorets Stadium are expected to be completed on time, by the end of 2011, and all the soccer games will take place there.