Ukraine enjoys Euro 2012 tourism windfall

Kiev, June 19 (IANS) Ukrainian authorities revealed Tuesday that around four million foreigners visited the country for the first two weeks of the Euro 2012 football championship, an increase of 11 percent compared with the same period last year.

"Starting from June 5, almost 860,000 vehicles crossed the Ukrainian border. That's 12 percent more than last year," the State Border Service of Ukraine said on its website.

During the last two weeks Ukrainian border guards have served over 800 planes, 520 buses and 150 trains with fans, the report said.

Over 1,200 organised groups of fan arrived in the country for the purpose of attending the tournament, reports Xinhua.

According to Ukrainian Trade Association, trading business is booming with foreign fans at shopping centres. The sales in emporium in the host cities have grown six percent since Euro 2012 kickoff.

The restaurants that attracted fans with match screenings also have seen profits, but it is difficult to calculate them so far.

Ukraine is in target to earn about $1.5 billion dollars from tourism during Euro 2012, according to the government figures.

The 16-nation tournament, which kicked off June 8, is taking place in four Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Lvov, Donetsk and Kharkov and four Polish cities of Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan.