They call Mykola Yevdokymenko the patriarch of the hotel business. He is also a well-known figure in tourism and public utilities, as well as a member of the Academy of Civil Construction and the Tourism Academy of Ukraine. In 1944, when Yevdokymenko was a 17-year-old teenager, he went into the navy and saw service on board the cruiser Krasny Kavkaz . Later he helped develop the tourism sector in the Crimea and the hotel industry in Ukraine as a whole. Today, he is the chairman of the board of directors and general manager of the Association of Ukrainian Hotel Unions and Urban Hotels. He will soon turn 80. At this age, what does a person need? Some will say peace of mind. But Yevdokymenko is different. Although he adores his wife, he says, “I can’t sit at home. Don’t laugh, but if I stop working now, I’ll kick the bucket in six months.’ Meanwhile, his colleagues claim that Yevdokymenko has the energy of 10 people, and he channels all this energy into the Ukrainian hotel industry. Below is The Day ’s interview with the man who knows everything about Ukraine’s hotel business.
How would you characterize the current state of Ukraine’s hotel industry? Is it on the rise?
“After the Soviet Union collapsed and the Ministry of Public Utilities of Ukraine was disbanded, our hotels went into decline. Nobody cared about them. As I said, there was no ministry, and there were no proper experts in the tourism committee. So we set up an association that initially had only 11 members. Now it comprises more than 200 facilities. This means it is indispensable. Although we have a limited staff, we are drawing up standard-setting instruments for this sector, holding seminars and workshops, studying the experience of the best, and tackling problems and lobbying their solution in administrative bodies. Naturally, it would be an exaggeration to ascribe positive changes in our country’s hotel sector to our association alone: the main factors behind these changes are the general development of the economy, the expansion of national and international tourism, the strengthening of economic and commercial ties — both internationally and regionally — and domestic and foreign investments in our sector. Still, our civic organization is having an essential impact on this process.”
You mentioned lobbying. What can you say about its results?
“We are now witnessing a real upsurge of activity in the hotel sector, which until recently was totally loss-making. Things were so bad that some hotels were being leased out as offices for private businesses. Now we can see a noticeable improvement in comfort and the quality of services in existing facilities. New hotels are being built and equipped in line with the latest requirements of world hotel trends. What also helped achieve this is the cancellation of the so-called hotel tax, which was literally strangling the sector. Huge investments are now going into building good- quality hotels. Until recently there was just one 5-star hotel in Ukraine. Now there are three in Kyiv alone, and a fourth one is about to be commissioned. We never saw this kind of investment in the Soviet era.”
Naturally, a capital cannot do without hotels.
“They are being built both in the capital and in the regions.”
What is the occupancy rate in these facilities? Are there many vacant hotel rooms, especially in the regions? In other words, are there enough foreign tourists visiting our country today?
“Nobody wanted to come here while the hotel tax was in force, which accounted for 20 percent of the room’s price, and hotel services were five times costlier for foreigners than for Ukrainian citizens. Once these obstacles were removed, the number of tourists drastically increased by an estimated 20-25 percent. We are now raising the question of privileges for our industry so that it develops at an accelerated rate. For example, Lithuania has the same Value Added Tax (20 percent) as Ukraine, but over there it is fixed at 5 percent for hotels. Many other countries also impose a minimum tax. If we manage to do the same thing, staying in a hotel will be cheaper and will increase the flow of tourists. Hotels will also be able to invest more actively in reconstruction, modernization, and new types of services.
“Today, hotels are often venues of exhibitions. The latest Expo-2007 exhibit welcomed representatives from 43 countries, and none of our guests complained about the conveniences of the hotels in Kyiv and the regions that they had visited.
“Our association is now publishing a magazine about the hotel and restaurant business. We have launched a campaign to declare 2008 the Year of Tourism in Ukraine, which will be sort of a review of our sector’s capabilities. A lot of attention will be paid to hotels because, in spite of essential progress, we are still lagging. Meanwhile, many countries live off tourism, including the hotel sector, of course.”
What government body is in charge of hotels?
“Unfortunately, I can’t name a concrete executive body. It does not exist. For some time this sector was a peculiar and unnecessary appendage of the State Committee for Sport and Tourism, and now we have been placed, God knows why, under the wing of the Ministry of Culture. But whereas we are close to ‘tourists’ to some degree, we are not even stepchildren in the culture ministry. This often causes complex problems. Recently, all the interested ministries and agencies got together and drew up a plan of joint work. If this plan works, the sector will get its second wind.”
Is there enough skilled staff in Ukraine to manage and run the not-so-simple hotel sector and provide a proper level of service for fussy foreign guests?
“Today there is a Department of Hotel Management at Ukraine’s Academy of Civil Construction, which coordinates all hotel construction and reconstruction work. But there is a serious imbalance with regard to staff training. Tourism specialists are being trained in 110 higher educational institutions, while hotels are experiencing an acute shortage of such middle-level specialists as receptionists and housekeeping staff. Only two colleges, one in Kyiv and one in Kharkiv, train this kind of staff. Chambermaids, who are being trained in only one vocational school, are also scarce. So it is very difficult to find this category of personnel to work at new high-class hotels, such as the Hyatt in Kyiv. Nobody is addressing this problem, while these kinds of workers should be trained in earnest, so that they will not only know how to prepare a room neatly and quickly, according to regulations, but also speak foreign languages and have an idea about the mentality of guests from various countries. We need proper vocational schools.”
Can we say that there are qualitative changes in Ukrainian hotels?
“We are definitely seeing noticeable changes. We are progressing and sometimes even achieving world levels. But I must repeat that hotels in our country are neglected. While there are very many inspection bodies, there are almost none that deal practically with the hospitality industry. Heating hotels is extremely expensive, and we are being suffocated by taxes. No wonder prices are so high in our hotels, although their services do not always correspond to international standards. It is especially difficult for those who come to Kyiv on business trips. It is next to impossible to stay at a hotel if your per diem is only 120 hryvnias. And even if a business person is lucky, what comforts will s/he get for this money? So a person who has come on business from out-of-town has to look for private lodgings rented on a daily basis. There are 30,000 of them in Kyiv. So instead of earning additional profits, hotels are losing out in this segment of the market.”
You know about the state of hotels in the Crimea, our main health center. Is there any restructuring going on there? What role does the private sector play here? Who exercises control over it?
“Today a lot of hotels are being built in the Crimea by large companies and private individuals, who set up small hotels and holiday camps. There are even some excellent projects. Recently, we held a joint workshop with the Russian Association of Hotels at the new Palmyra Palace Hotel in the Crimea. Nowhere else is there such a high level. The Yalta-based Oreanda is also developing and improving. The Yalta Hotel, which was once our flagship and then went into decline, already meets contemporary standards.”
Will our hotel sector be ready to receive the participants and visitors for the 2012 European soccer championship?
“As of today, our hotels could accommodate the soccer players and officials, but not fans. So we are working solidly on preparing for this goal and drawing up plans. Fortunately, I have some experience here. In 1980 I was responsible for receiving and accommodating the participants and spectators at the soccer games during the Moscow Olympics. I think this experience will come in handy now. When we were working in Moscow during the Olympics, we re-equipped all the students’ dormitories and hotels. It is hardly worth applying this method again, although I don’t rule out that this approach might suit many young fans who will be coming to Euro-2012. Our students would not be at a disadvantage, either, because they would not recognize their renovated dormitories.”
