Tours to Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident, are popular with tourists visiting the Ukraine, but an even bigger attraction, particularly with football fans and gun enthusiasts, are the city's shooting ranges.
Since the collapse of communism in Europe some 20 years ago,
shooting ranges where tourists can fire automatic and
semi-automatic weapons have sprung up on the outskirts of Kyiv
and in eastern European countries.
Everyone from businessmen to members of bachelor parties
turn up to fire a few rounds from weapons most Europeans only
ever see in the movies.
“There are shooting ranges in France but nothing like this.
And certainly not an AK-47,” said Phillippe, a security
consultant from Paris, who preferred not to give his surname.
Each member of the group of French tourists at the Falcon
Sport Shooting club near Kyiv had a chance to fire an AK-47 in
automatic and semi-automatic modes, before switching to the
Soviet-made Dragunov rifle.
“Previously our business was mostly British groups,” said
Vika Dobrovolska, operations manager at Kyiv Tours, which
arranged the shooting practice session.
“But during Euro 2012 (Football Championship) we’ve had
hundreds of Swedes out here, French, Italians, often several
groups a day. I would say it’s our most popular activity by
far,” she said.
Dobrovolska said shooting is a very “manly activity,” and
that most of the visiting football fans are men.
“I would say 99.999 percent are men – and the other 0.001
percent is made up of me and my colleague Sasha,” she added.
Both women are experts at the activity and appear
comfortable handling the pistols and automatic weapons on offer.
With restrictive gun laws and compulsory military service a
thing of the past in most European Union countries, the shooting
ranges provide the only legal opportunity most people will have
to fire any sort of gun.
For gun connoisseurs there is the opportunity to fire
Soviet-made Kalashnikovs and Dragunov sniper’s rifles,
considered classics of the genre.
Dobrovolska said many people involved in the Ukrainian
tourism industry were dismayed that the country had been
depicted as a dangerous destination by foreign media before the
Euro 2012 football championship, but bookings have been in line
with expectations.
“I’m glad so many people came and saw that Kyiv is not a
dangerous city, and I think it will boost tourism in Ukraine
even after Euro 2012 is over.”
Another member of the French group described the chance to
fire the weapons as a particularly unique experience and added
that he and his colleagues had felt very safe during their visit
to Ukraine.
A spokesman for Kyiv’s police force said the crime rate in
the city had dropped during Euro 2012, despite the influx of
foreign fans and pre-tournament fears of a spate of robberies,
pickpocketing and racist incidents.
Back at the clubhouse in the sprawling shooting facility on
the outskirts of Kyiv, the French football fans compared their
shooting scores over a cold beer. Most of them managed to hit
the target at least once.
