Tour OperatorsTourists are eager to pay to enter the battle zones.

Believe it or not, Ukraine is hot

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Dark tourism has a new destination: Ukraine.
Dark tourism has a new destination: Ukraine. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/misu

Local company War Tours is charging between €50 (US$157) and €250 (US$262) for a tour, with the price rising for trips closer to the front line.

Part of the profits are given to the army, company co-founder Dmytro Nykyforov told AFP. He said the initiative was "not about money, it's about memorialisation of the war”.

The visits generally centre around Kyiv and its suburbs although a visit of several days to southern Ukraine, closer to the front line with Russia, can cost up to €3,300.

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

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

Ukraine  recorded four million entries from foreign visitors - mainly business travellers - last year, according to Oleskiv.

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

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