The Carpathian Mountains are a region with 22% of Ukraine’s resort and recreational potential. This lucrative sphere helps solve social problems, improve the lives of residents, stabilize employment, and create jobs.
“Green tourism” is exceptionally important for Zakarpattia oblast. This type of tourism is popular primarily because it is affordable and profitable for farmers, who are happy to accommodate tourists at reasonable prices, make them comfortable, and provide various services. This is especially true of mountainous areas, where the unemployment and poverty rates are catastrophic. Zakarpattia boasts old traditions, and rural tourism based on village home accommodations is a year- round business. Today, 95% of the local areas are rural settlements inhabited by almost 70% of the populace.
According to Oleksandr Marchenko, head of the Zakarpattia state administration’s Department of Tourism and Resorts, there are green tourist associations practically in every highland district in the region. These associations are made up of homeowners, and the most active ones are in the districts of Berehove, Vynohradiv, Perechyn, Tiachiv, Rakhiv, and Mukachiv. In addition, there are private mini-hotels and homesteads catering to tourists in the vicinity of practically every resort, and recreational and skiing bases.
Mr. Marchenko says there are 150 such homesteads officially registered in Zakarpattia, but the actual number is over 400. Regrettably, their status has yet to be legally regulated, so most homeowners, who are afraid of taxes being levied on them, are loath to submit official documents and information about themselves. This explains the lack of data regarding the number of “green tourists” who visit Zakarpattia.
Specialists at the tourism department believe that green tourism is making Zakarpattia increasingly popular with people in neighboring countries. This place is favored by German, Slovak, and Hungarian tourists, who come with their families. There are some 600 diversified tourist itineraries that ensure the development of rural tourism; some 400 of them are officially certified.
The advantage of rural tourism in Zakarpattia is that this region has the richest tourism potential. This oblast is recognized as the most promising recreational zone (health region) in Europe, as tourists can be accommodated throughout the year. Also, this region borders on 4 countries, which can only facilitate the development of inexpensive rest and recreation (especially now for residents of EU countries). The region boasts 8 ancient castles and a great many ancient cathedrals and churches, including famous monuments of wood architecture, monasteries, and old cemeteries (Christian and Jewish). Some 60% of the territory of this oblast is covered by beautiful forests and mountains, including polonynas — a type of alpine meadows with unique nature preserves, such as Stuzhytsia, the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, and Synevyr. This region has an advanced infrastructure of highways and railroads, and the fifth Trieste-Ljubljana-Budapest-Chop transport corridor will traverse Zakarpattia together with an entire infrastructure of hotels, camping grounds, shopping centers, filling stations — in a word, everything the tourist needs.
