War tours: how tourism in Ukraine is bouncing back

"We welcome our guests if they don't come with guns", said a Ukrainian tourism boss, after the nation's tourism industry brought in more taxes in the first half of 2024 than in pre-war 2021.

Officially, tourism chiefs are "planning for post-war tourism", said The Independent, but visitor numbers are already ticking up and there is growing "disquiet" over "war tourism" and the "commercialisation of tragedy", said The Times.

'Very beautiful'

When people think about Ukraine it is "maybe about bravery, about war, about destruction", Mariana Oleskiv, the chair of Ukraine's State Agency for Tourism Development, told The Independent, but only "around 20% or 30% of territory" is occupied. The rest is "all right" and "very beautiful".

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Domestic tourism continues in Ukraine and families travel from destinations that are "less safe" to those that are "more safe". Some are holidaying in the Carpathian mountains or previously little-visited cities like Chernivtsi in the southwest.

However, foreign visitors should stay away until the war is over, tourism bosses said. "We are not inviting anybody now because of many reasons," said Oleskiv, including that logistics are "very complicated" and "insurance companies do not cover risks in Ukraine".

The tourism board is also not interested in "dark tourism", she added, but visitors from abroad are already coming back and a lot of it is for war tours.

'Bombed-out streets'

According to booking platforms, the number of bookings in Ukraine has "exceeded the pre-docking figures of 2019", which indicates the "dynamic growth of the industry even in times of crisis", said Visit Ukraine.

Two-and-a-half years into the war, foreign visitors are "gradually returning" to Ukraine, said The Times, and "guided excursions around the sites of Russia's war crimes" are "big business", with week-long "war tour" packages around de-occupied areas of the country "going for more than £3,000".

War tourism in Ukraine is attracting foreigners to see the "scars of Russia's invasion", said Kyiv Independent. A tour guide, who has "crafted an emotional route" through Kyiv suburbs such as Bucha that tells "intricate stories" of Russia's "brutal occupation", told the outlet there has been an "uptick in tourists".

His tours start at $120, half of which is donated to the Ukrainian army. But not all locals approve. One said that he is "wary of guides capitalising on his bombed-out street" and signs have appeared on derelict houses warning visitors not to enter or take photographs.

Some locals "baulk" at the idea of individuals "profiteering in a town where some people lost everything", said The Times. A resident told the broadsheet that they "can't see that it's fair if people are making money out of it when it's money that should be going to help rebuild Bucha".

But war tours are "not the only draw" and in cities of "relative safety" local authorities are "gradually welcoming visitors back", with visitor numbers up 37% on last year. The information centre in Lviv has "adapted to wartime" by now not only providing visitors with details about local attractions but also advising on safety in the city.