Tourist tax in Ukraine grew by 33% this year

In the first half of 2025, tourist tax in Ukraine broke all previous records: ₴142.6 million went to local budgets. This is one-third more than last year and twice as much as in 2021. Overall, 2025 is likely to become a record year for income from domestic tourism, since the peak tourist season and higher tax revenues usually fall in the second half of the year.

This year, money from tourists came almost equally from big business and small entrepreneurs: 55% was paid by hotels and large accommodation facilities, while 45% came from apartment owners, guesthouses, and small tourist sites. A few years ago, big business had a clear lead (62%), but now the situation has evened out. At present, only in six regions do companies still dominate tax payments: Kyiv (83%), Sumy region (73%), Khmelnytskyi region (61%), Lviv region (57%), Rivne and Poltava regions — 51% each.

It is worth noting that official statistics do not always reflect the real picture of tourist tax revenues, says Denys Popov, legal engineer at Opendatabot.

«Not all homeowners who rent their places to tourists work officially, are registered, accept official payments, and therefore pay the tax. That’s why the real size of the market is much bigger than reported, and the share of private entrepreneurs is also larger. However, with the introduction of a unified register of transactions under the control of the tax service, the situation is gradually changing: the shadow segment is shrinking, and revenues to local budgets are becoming more transparent and stable. In my view, this is one of the reasons for the significant growth of indicators in 2025», 

— says Denys Popov, lawyer and insolvency practitioner.

The main contributors to local budgets this year were Kyiv (₴33.6 million), Lviv region (₴26.6 million), and Ivano-Frankivsk region (₴22.1 million). Together, these three regions provided 58% of all tourist tax revenues.

It is worth noting that Kyiv regained its leadership only last year, after a two-year break — before that, Lviv was in first place. Odesa, which in 2021 held second place, has lost its position significantly due to the war: tax revenues there fell almost by half compared to 2021. At the same time, Bukovyna, Prykarpattia, and Cherkasy region showed sharp growth — almost three to four times higher than before the war.

Context ​

The tourist tax is a small tax, but everyone who stays in a hotel, hostel, or rents housing for vacation pays an extra amount: from a few dozen hryvnias for Ukrainians to a few hundred for foreigners. This money goes directly to local budgets. In 2025, with the increased minimum salary (₴8,000), the maximum rate is ₴40 for domestic tourism and ₴400 for foreigners.