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In spite of the fact that Odessa has a great tourism potential according to many experts, there is no International Hotel Brands in the region so far. During the Black Sea Economic Forum held by British Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce and Ukrainian Real Estate Club in Odessa on October 9th the international operators such as Hilton Worldwide, Marriott, Reikartz Hotel Group expressed their strong interest and readiness to approach the Odessa’ Market.
"Odessa is a key focus for us particularly with our Hilton, Doubletree by Hiltonand Hilton Garden Inn brands. We believe there is good mid-term potential for both business and leisure travellers and see potential for more than one of our brands. Targetted locations include both the city centre and also seaside locations such as Arcadia.Investors need to comply with our design and construction brand standards for the relevant brand. We always strongly encourage investors to commission an independent hotel market study to assess the overall feasibility of the project." Mike Collini, Vice President Development – Turkey, Russia & Eastern Europe, Hilton Worldwide
However, they can’t act neither as investors nor the owners of the hotels they operate. Moreover, there are reasons to believe the international brands will not enter the market shortly. As an example, it took about 5-6 years for Hilton to launch its first hotel in Kiev, starting from a decision making to its grand opening.
Yet one of the main ideas brought up during the discussion was that the local policy makers and government in general were among those who should make the market more favorable to encourage the presence of the world known hotels in the city and region as a whole, and as a result to attract foreign tourists and well-off audience.
"We have been looking for several years at the Odessa hotel market at both downtown and coastal (Arcadia) possibilities. It all comes down to the investor and until now we have been unable to secure such a project. The historical city center has few free sites to build larger hotels and Arcadia is a seasonal destination but we keep looking for the right partner for our Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson brands in Odessa"
David Jenkins, Vice President Business Development Russia, CIS & Baltics, The Rezidor Hotel Group
Center of Gambling Business
In the course of the Forum speakers and invited experts mentioned gambling business could be of high interest and demand in the region. Among the main arguments to back up the point are available coastal zone and port to accommodate cruise liners. Resort Coastal Cities all over the world are the most feasible locations for developing gambling business and Odessa is not an exception for sure. Moreover, it is a good reason to urge the expansion of international hotel brands.
What stand in the way of successful region development?
The key factor of the region’s development to be attractive for tourists is well-developed infrastructure.
Hotels, shopping & leisure centers, as well as event marketing are not sufficient to make the region truly attractive for the tourists. In addition, it also requires roads of good quality, modern trains with services of high standard, available river and sea traffic, as well as airspace open for the international operators. Unfortunately, today Odessa has little to show in terms of infrastructure.
There is a monopoly in flights in Ukraine. And the international operators will never line up after International Ukrainian Airline. That’s why it is crucial for Ukraine to have “Open Sky”. Sergei Podgorodetskyi, General Manager at AtlasJet,
Within and beyond
The majority of potential investors bet on Odessa, speakers though believe that the whole region has a high potential. While Odessa is a big city with an operating commercial port, Odessa region has long coastal line and recreational growth prospects. The level of infrastructural development there is much lower than in the city though.
Local players' opinion
The representatives of local business community ensure they don’t seek international investors as can invest in the region development without extraneous capital. They don’t need support of the city/state government as well. Thus, Juri Shpirt, Owner of Arber Fashion Group says that his company has been successfully operating and expanding its business for many years without any cooperation with authorities. According to the local businessmen the best what the government can do for boosting economic growth in the region is to clear the way for business development.
