How war tourism is on the rise in Ukraine

The Ukraine war has raged on since February 2022.

The images of death and destruction from the battle-ravaged country have been beamed around the world.

But despite these gory images, some people continue to visit Ukraine.

These war tourists, as they are called, shell out big bucks to visit locations that have been bombed by Russia or even hit by drones – or even ones that continue to be under attack.

But what do we know about this phenomenon?

Let’s take a closer look:

Visitors to Ukraine rebound

According to Ukraine Today, the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia war in 2022 saw the number of visitors drop,

However, these numbers have since rebounded.

Nearly 2.5 million foreigners visited Ukraine in 2023.

The country recorded over a million foreigners’ visiting from January to July this year alone.

More from Explainers

How ChatGPT is becoming everyone’s BFF and why that’s dangerous This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

Of these, over 500,000 came from Moldova, while 200,000 came from Romania and another 100,000 arrived from Poland.

Citizens from Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey, Israel, USA, Germany and Syria rounded out the top 10.

Dark tourism

Some of these have come for what is known as ‘dark tourism’ – in which tourists travel to places in which tragic events have unfolded.

Alberto Blasco Ventas, a 23-year-old software engineer from Spain, chose Ukraine’s Irpin brige.

The bridge which was blown up to stop Russian troops in 2022, is now a hotspot for thrill-seeking tourists visiting the country.

Though the Russian army has retreated hundreds of kilometres away, is still launches near-daily missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital Blasco Ventas chose as his vacation spot.

Editor’s Picks

1

Not an ICBM: What is the Oreshnik ballistic missile that Russia fired against Ukraine? 2

Russia-Ukraine war is escalating: What changed in last six days?

“It’s my first time in a war zone,” the 23-year-old software engineer said. “I’m a little bit scared, I’m not going to lie, because you never know.”

He was on a “dark tourism” tour offered by one of a dozen or so Ukrainian companies specialising in a marginal but growing sector – allowing tourists to visit locations of tragic events.

To get to Ukraine, he shrugged off concerns expressed by his family and got on a flight to Moldova, followed by an 18-hour train ride.

The wannabe influencer filmed every step of the trip, which he planned to post on his YouTube channel – followed by 115,000 people – where he has already chronicled the “most horrible psychiatric hospital” in the United States and “the most dangerous border” in the world, between China, Russia and North Korea.

War Tours, which organised his visit, said it has accommodated around 30 customers since January, mainly Europeans and Americans paying between $157 and $262 for the whole tour.

Part of the profits are given to the army, said company co-founder Dmytro Nykyforov who insisted the initiative was “not about money, it’s about memorialization of the war.”

Svitozar Moiseiv, the manager of tourism company Capital Tours Kyiv, said profits are negligible but the visits have an educational value.

“It’s like a vaccine to prevent this from ever happening again,” he said.

Big business

The visits generally centre around Kyiv and its suburbs that saw alleged massacres from Russian troops in the early 2022.

But some companies come closer to the front – including a visit of several days in southern Ukraine costing up to $3400.

The Times reported that “guided excursions around the sites of Russia’s war crimes” are “big business.”

Week-long “war tour” packages around de-occupied areas of the country “going for over $3,700”.

Tour guide Svet Moiseev told the Kyiv Independent he has seen a rise in tourists lately.

“People want to understand how (this war) could happen in the 21st century.  And, of course, they want to pay tribute to those who were killed and those who defended,” Moiseev said.

This destroyed apartment block is a bucket of ice-cold water on your head to bring it back into reality,” Moiseev added. “It’s shock therapy for those who forget that the war in Ukraine is still ongoing.”

Daniel Hosie too visited the Irpin River.

“It was surreal. That bridge is a memorable one for me, because I saw it fall, and I remember thinking that this is crazy. And then I’m there, seeing it,” the Scot told the newspaper.

‘Next best thing’

American Nick Tan, who works in finance for a New York tech company, was among those who wanted to go even further than Kyiv.

So he went in July to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city that faces constant bombing from Russian forces, located around 20 kilometres away.

“I just wanted to see it because I think our lives in the West are just too comfortable and too easy,” the 34-year-old said.

He said he wanted to get even closer to the front but was met with his guide’s refusal.

The self-described thrill-seeker said he had already gone skydiving, regularly attended boxing classes and raves.

“Jumping out of planes and partying all night and punching people in the face just didn’t do it for me anymore. So what’s the next best thing? Going to a war zone.”

His quest baffled some residents of the scarred Irpin suburb, who live under the constant threat of Russian air attacks.

“A Shahed drone recently fell 300 metres away from my house. I wouldn’t have any desire to live through this kind of experience,” said Ruslan Savchuk, 52.

“But if people want that for themselves, it’s their right,” he said.

Savchuk advises Irpin on its tourism strategy as a volunteer.

“Even a subject as difficult as war can lead to something good,” he said, adding that tourists could generate useful incomes for local communities.

Of course, dark tourism is nothing new for Ukraine.

Prior to the war, the country saw thousands of tourists flock to Chernobyl every year.

The site remains the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

Growing disquiet

But not everyone is happy.

The Times quoted officials as saying that there is growing “disquiet” over “war tourism” and the “commercialisation of tragedy.”

Some residents “baulk” at individuals “profiteering in a town where some people lost everything”, the newspaper reported.

One resident said 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.”

Hostomel resident Serhii Ahiyev said he is suspicious of some trying to make hay out of his pain.

“Sometimes they bring tourists on purpose to make money from it. Not to talk about what happened,” he told the Kyiv Independent.

Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska, local councillor in Irpin and former deputy mayor of Bucha, said most residents are fine with “dark tourism” but some consider the profits from it as “blood money”.

“There are accusations – ‘Why do you come here? Why do you want to see our grief?’,” she said, recalling conversations with locals.

Answering critics that would consider such trips morbid or immoral, Blasco Ventas insisted he was acting “with respect.”

“I didn’t want it to be an Instagram photo shoot. You have to show respect,” Hosie told Kyiv Independent.

“These are people’s lives, people’s homes. I was aware to keep that in the back of my mind, that this isn’t a holiday. You’re here to see what’s going on and experience it.”

Mariana Oleskiv, head of the National Agency for Tourism Development, said the development of war tourism posed many ethical questions but that the market was bound to grow.

Oleskiv told The Independent that people associate Ukraine with “bravery, war and destruction" but that just “around 20 or 30 per cent of territory” is occupied.

The rest is “all right” and “very beautiful,” she added.

Her agency was preparing specific training for guides, as well as memorial tours in the Kyiv region.

“We are not inviting anybody now because of many reasons,” Oleskiv added, stating that logistics are “very complicated” and “insurance companies do not cover risks in Ukraine.”

The Russian invasion triggered an immediate collapse of the tourism industry, but the sector’s revenues should this year exceed those of 2021 – a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic.

That growth mainly comes from domestic tourism fuelled by Ukrainian men of fighting age who are generally not allowed to leave the country due to martial law.

Ukraine is already preparing for the post-war period, including by signing deals with Airbnb and TripAdvisor.

“War brought attention to Ukraine, so we have stronger brand. Everybody knows about our country,” Oleskiv said.

With inputs from agencies