Tourism breaks records: budget revenues are 1.5 times higher than pre-war figures
24 October 15:00
In the first nine months of 2025, local budgets received UAH 234.4 million in tourist tax, which is 36% more than in the same period last year and one and a half times more than before the outbreak of a full-scale war. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Opendatabot.
uAH 91.7 million of tourist tax was paid to local budgets from July to September 2025, according to the State Tax Service.
Kyiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions remain the largest contributors to local budgets.
Summer was the peak of revenues
The highest revenues were recorded in the summer. In the third quarter (July-September), businesses paid UAH 91.7 million in tourist tax, 20% more than in the previous quarter. This period is traditionally the most active for the industry due to:
- vacations and domestic travel;
- development of the festival movement;
- increased demand for hotels, resorts, sanatoriums, and rental housing.
Who pays more: large or small businesses?
53% (UAH 125.2 million) of revenues were generated by large hotels, recreation centers and sanatoriums.
47% (UAH 109.2 million) was generated by small businesses: apartment landlords, private estates, and family hotels.
However, it was small businesses that showed the highest dynamics: their payments increased by 39%, while large companies increased their contributions by only 6.5%.
This indicates the active revival of domestic tourism and the emergence of new forms of recreation – green, ecological, rural tourism, temporary rental.
Leading regions
The capital remains the unchanged leader of Ukrainian tourism. One fifth or UAH 51 million of the tourist tax was paid in Kyiv. 81% of this amount came from big business.
Lviv region is in second place with UAH 42.5 million, with a smaller share of big business, 56%. Ivano-Frankivsk region rounded out the top three with UAH 32.5 million, while 55% of the tourist tax in the region was paid by small businesses.
Particularly high growth rates were recorded in the western regions, where tourist flows were massively reoriented after the sea was closed to civilian visitors.
Record-breaking regions
Bukovyna – tourist tax has increased 5 times compared to the pre-war year. 90% of revenues come from small entrepreneurs.
Ivano-Frankivsk region – 4.5 times the level of 2021.
Odesa region – showed the highest growth rate in the summer quarter, but still lags behind pre-war figures by 17% in the first nine months.
General trend
In the first half of 2025, local budgets received UAH 142.6 million in tourist tax, which is
- one third more than in the same period of 2024;
- almost twice as much as in 2021.
What this means for the Ukrainian economy
Tourism is becoming a key source of local revenue and an important factor in the economic sustainability of communities.
Small businesses are playing an increasingly important role in ensuring the development of local areas.
Ukraine is gradually shifting from “sea” tourism to inland and natural tourism, which is shaping a new model of the tourism industry.
