Ukraine reassured fans on Thursday over hotel room prices during the Euro 2012 tournament, a week after harsh criticism from UEFA chief Michel Platini, who slammed "bandits" for charging exorbitant rates.
"We don't have problems with accommodation, I am telling you officially," said Markiyan Lubkivskiy, the director of the event's Local Organising Committee, which was set up in Ukraine but financed by UEFA.
"We have analysed the situation in detail and at the moment we have thousands of hotel rooms in different categories, one-, two- and three-star," as well as university campuses, Lubkivskiy said.
"The prices are affordable."
Apart from a few "isolated cases," hotel price rises in Ukraine during the European championships are "nothing extraordinary," and have roughly mirrored those in other host countries, Lubkivskiy said.
Platini on a visit to Ukraine on April 12 condemned what he called prices racked up by "bandits and crooks" during Euro 2012, warning that foreign fans would not bother coming unless the country cleaned up its act.
"It's annoying to have made a lot of investment and then say to people that they can't come because there are bandits and crooks who want to make a lot of money during this Euro," Platini said on a visit to host city Lviv.
"I hope for your sake (Ukraine) that the contracts which hoteliers have made will be respected as otherwise the people are not going to come," he warned.
Boris Kolesnikov, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister in charge of Euro 2012, organised jointly with Poland from June 8 to July 1, then promised that the government "would take the necessary measures within 30 days".
Source: AFP
