According to Razumkov Center’s sociological study, 55% of grown up Ukrainians have never been abroad, 16.3% go abroad less often than once in 10 years, 11.6% of the population visit other countries once in 6-9 years, 8.6% travel once in 2-5 years, and only 8.7% go abroad once a year or more often. Today, when the doors of the European Union are finaly open, Ukrainians do not need visas to enter the countries of the so-called Shengen zone.

In a few days now, 40 million Ukrainians with biometric passports will be permitted to enter 30 states in the Schengen zone for 90 days for tourism or business. After many months of ongoing discussions and negotiations, the decision has eventually been made and will come into force on June 11, 2017.  The map below shows Ukraine in red, and the visa free territories in bright green, as well as the light-green territories where visa is issued upon arrival, and the grey territories are the countries which require a visa to be issued prior to the arrival into the country. Well, the good news is:

 THE WORLD IS BECOMING GREENER FOR UKRAINIANS!

Our local press is full of articles about what to expect on a visit to Europe and how one should prepare for the trip. This fuss causes me mixed emotions, though. I am happy for the Ukrainians, of course. At the same time, this decision was preceeded with such a long period of procrastinating that it no longer excites anyone.

Still, I believe that every Ukrainian citizen – especially the young ones – MUST visit as many countries as it is possible, because-

THE ONES WHO TRAVEL A LOT CAN UNDERSTAND THEIR OWN COUNTRY BETTER 

The more Ukrainians travel, the sooner they can make their life better. Today, thousands of people still scold their country and always grumble: “Everything is bad, it just can not be worse!” I am sure these are the voices of those who have never traveled abroad.

If more people travel and finally see the world with their own eyes, this will open their eyes, I a, sure. There are so many things one can do in this country, and there are really many things which are really very good here. One simply needs to have a wider look on things to be able to see this. Today, Ukraine is becoming the country of opportunity for many. I hope that Ukrainians will soon show this to the rest of the world.