According to the Law of the President of Ukraine «On Amendments to Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine «On Tourism No. 3679», adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in July 2011, there should be a mandatory categorization of hotels in the country. This document states that the central executive apparatus of the tourism sector should develop standards, according to which the categorization of tourist facilities will be carried out, or international standards on this issue should be introduced.
According to the information of the chairman of «Gosturizmkurort» Shapovalova Elena, in Ukraine will soon be introduced a new procedure for assigning categories (stars) to domestic hotels.
This procedure has been developed by the State Agency of Ukraine for Tourism and Resorts, which plans to implement it in the very near future.
Shapovalova believes that the categorization of Ukrainian hotels, which currently exists in the country, does not correspond to the order used by European countries. Due to the absence in Ukraine of a procedure for assigning categories to hotels comparable to the European one, foreign tourists cannot properly orient themselves in choosing and booking a hotel that meets their requirements.
In this regard, stated the chairman of «Gosturizmkurorta», domestic specialists, together with the best Ukrainian and foreign experts created an improved procedure for the order of categorization of domestic hotels. The procedure is based on the use of ball assessment, and corresponds to similar procedures for assigning categories to hotels, existing in European countries. The essence of the ball system is that if a hotel does not meet all the requirements, it is allowed to compensate these shortcomings with some other kind of services. But at the same time, as Shapovalova stated, categorization of hotels is purely voluntary. It is necessary, keeping up with the times, to introduce market tools of modernity.
Elena Shapovalova also pointed out that the newly formed system of assigning categories to hotels, first of all, is designed to ensure simplification and transparency of this procedure. This will increase the competitiveness of both domestic hotels and national tourism business. At the moment, out of more than three thousand seven hundred accommodation facilities (hotels, rest houses, sanatoriums, boarding houses), the official category is assigned to a little over two hundred.