Ukraine can trade in… landscapes
Green tourism is not afraid of the crisis if the Verkhovna Rada does not replace it with “agrotourism”
As recently as ten years ago almost nobody dealt with green tourism in Ukraine, but now 37 estates in seven regions are inviting guests to spend their vacations in the countryside. The Union for Promoting Rural Green Tourism is convinced that this is quite an achievement for us. For example, there are 80 green estates in Switzerland, but they began to develop rural tourism a long time before us.
Green tourism in Ukraine can receive a new impetus for development in the conditions of a financial crisis because, to save money, many people will opt for vacationing in the Carpathians or Polissia rather than going abroad. Also this year we are launching the European Union’s project for the development of the countryside, including green tourism, as part of Ukraine’s entry into the WTO.
However, the Union for Promoting Green Tourism claims that all the achievements may be reduced to nothing by the draft law “On Agrarian Tourism and Agro-Touristic Activity” recently submitted by the Ministry for Agrarian Policy to the Verkhovna Rada. The bill proposes promoting agrotourism instead of rural tourism. In an interview with The Day, Volodymyr VASYLIEV, chairman of the Union for Promoting Rural Green Tourism, explains what agrotourism is and what threat it poses to the owners of green estates.
WHERE HENS AND A VEGETABLE GARDEN ARE, THERE IS RURAL TOURISM?
Mr. Vasyliev, how much is the draft law in line with the current situation in rural tourism?
“It runs counter to the European and Ukrainian practice. The World Tourist Organization recommends that countries should implement the idea and philosophy of rural tourism, i.e. vacations in the countryside irrespective of whether it is the household a peasant, a farmer, or someone else that will provide services. The same organization does not deny and even recommends supporting such components of the general brand “rural tourism” as “ethno,” “agro,” and “eco.”
“The Ministry for Agrarian Policy is now narrowing this direction and toying with a new idea of agrotourism: tourists will help the estate owner do his work in exchange for room and board, with payment remaining the same. This means that agrotourism will only embrace village householders—if there is no cattle or a private plot of land, there are no prospects of development. This totally excludes the idea of rural tourism, which is a much broader notion and comprises not only agrotourism but also ecological and ethnographical tourism.
“This will cast a shadow on a lot of people who do not do agricultural work for various reasons: they will allegedly have nothing to entertain tourists with. Take, for example, the Carpathian region. The local mountainous terrain is unfit for this or the land is intended for recreation. Monuments of nature and architecture, castles and fortresses are used worldwide as objects of rural tourism, but in this country they will be out of use because of this draft law (they are not part of green tourism services, and it is also unclear what status the existing green estates will have – Author).
“This looks like an illegal raid of the state on what the Union for Promoting Rural Green Tourism has done in the past ten years. The Verkhovna Rada has not yet passed this law: it was only posted on the agrarian ministry’s website. A month was given for the public to debate on it and for some ministries to perform expert examination. We are going to press our case in mass media so that the authorities heed the voice of the public and rural tourism experts and throw out this bill.”
A lack of low-interest credits remains the sorest point for green estate owners. Is this problem being tackled?
“All the state has done in this respect is the program Your Own House drawn by the Ministry for Agrarian Polices to promote individual housing construction in the countryside. The ministry issues an up-to-100,000-hryvnia loan for 20 years with a three-percent interest rate. One can use these funds to buy, reconstruct, or build a house. An individual will thus create a job for himself and a functional place of residence, i.e. guest rooms of a certain standard.”
Does the State Program of Rural Development envision any privileges for rural tourism?
“The term ‘rural green tourism’ occurs in many presidential decrees, Cabinet resolutions, and laws on tourism and individual farming, as well as in the above-mentioned program. These documents call for the development of entrepreneurship and non-farming activities in the countryside by inviting people to provide services in the field of green tourism. But there is no question of government funding. If passed, the law on agrotourism will only exacerbate the situation because it does not say a word about the safety of tourists and those who provide tourist services, which is a very important point. Nor does the proposed law have a clause on who is supposed to promote this kind of services. This should be done by tour operators and tourist agencies.”
UKRAINE INSTEAD OF TURKEY
The tourist season is coming on. Will the economic crisis affect green tourism?
“It will have a positive effect. The people who live in the city, so to speak, on the asphalt, will economize on vacationing and travel to various nooks and crannies of Ukraine rather than to Turkey. And many will use such services as home-style meals and accommodation, i.e. the services of rural tourism. We are soon launching a European Union-assisted project to bring agrarian sector realities in line with WTO requirements. One of this project’s chapters is about the development of rural areas and envisages assistance to Ukraine for three years: we will see the experience of which countries we ought to use. We have already gained some experience during training in Canada, the US, and Europe, and now we have an opportunity to enter a new stage of development.”
A program to categorize green estates was launched about a year ago. What is its progress now?
“We launched a pilot project as long as three years ago in the Carpathian region, and now it has spread all over Ukraine. This is a market-study tool for those who wish to work on the tourist services market. This is why they would like us to categorize their estates. This is also important as part of preparations of Ukraine for Euro-2012. We should be able to show foreign guests and our compatriots the guaranteed places of rural tourism services. Guarantees can be provided by certain image-building organizations and signs of services quality. Such a sign will show that there is a minimum or maximum level of services. The customer will know what he is paying for and will be clearly aware of what services will be provided in one estate or another — whether there is a TV set and a phone, the Internet, a sauna, a bathhouse, and so on.
“At present, all the green estates in Ukraine have this kind of quality signs. In general, green tourism is a very work-consuming affair. To obtain the highest possible category, one must, for example, build a house from natural materials, carry out organic cultivation of land in order to have pollution-free foodstuffs, recycle industrial wastes, etc. For this reason, most of the estates so far belong to the first (lowest) level of categorization.
“Last year we had about 15 new estates built. It is a fairly successful result if we take into account that only one non-profit civic organization is tackling this problem. If the state were our partner, as is the case in Poland, it would be much easier to work: their government worked out rural tourism standards, owners carried out voluntary categorization of estates, and everybody is taking an integrated approach to the quality of services.”
What conditions should the state create to let green tourism develop faster and more effectively?
“In the times of an economic crisis the state is unable to adequately subsidize the owners of green estates. So it should size up its political possibilities: for example, by using its legislative instruments, create a favorable legal milieu for all those who reside in the countryside or those who wish to move here from the city and use their property for rendering services in the field of rural tourism. The state will thus extend preferential treatment to those who wish to work in the countryside.
“Secondly, we should separate this activity from commercial business and draw a line between them, as other countries have done. For instance, in Poland, if a green estate has no more than eight beds or five rooms for rendering services, the owner is exempt from being registered as an entrepreneurial entity. In this case the owner does not pay taxes for renting out these eight beds or for selling the produce he grows, he is not obliged to certify this activity.
“Incidentally, certification is done by a State Committee for Consumer Standards commission consisting of firemen, electricians, environmental health officers, etc., who determine if the estate is fit for receiving tourists. But all these requirements are checked while the estate is still being built. If the tourist flow increases and the owner builds a second or third house, he is to get registered as an entrepreneurial entity, choose a suitable system of taxation, and certify these places by hotel business standards. This is the main preference that we are expecting from the state.”
COMMENTARI
Viktor KORCHEMNY, director, Department of Rural Territory Development, Ministry for Agrarian Policy of Ukraine:
“The law ‘On Agrarian Tourism and Agro-Touristic Activity’ has been drawn up to encourage peasants to promote agrotourism. It is partly similar to the already-passed law ‘On Tourism’ which remains the only standard-setting instrument that regulates things in the field of tourism. Yet, the existing legislative base requires changes and supplements. This is why we are pressing for the passage of the law ‘On Agrarian Tourism and Agro-Touristic Activity’ and suggesting using the specifics of village households for the development of agrotourism.
“Why agrotourism? Because this variety of recreation implies work of tourists on land. This kind of activity can only be pursued at a rural estate that can meet the food demands of tourists and help them observe the local monuments of nature and architecture, i.e. provide them with various touristic services, such as temporary accommodation, excursions, sports, cultural, and other services. One of the main prerequisites for being engaged in agrotourism is possession of land on which one can build new or use the existing structures. Incidentally, it is not at all necessary to keep cattle.”
