TOURIST CLUSTERS IN FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES OF UKRAINE

Abstract

In Ukraine, before the war, significant attention was paid to the development of tourism through the activation of cluster interaction. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the frontline regions of Ukraine have suffered significant losses in tourism potential and the destruction of tourism infrastructure. The study of the creation and/or continuation prospects of tourism clusters operation in the frontline communities of Ukraine (Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk regions) was not disclosed, which determined the purpose of our article. The study of the tourism sphere functioning peculiarities in the front-line communities of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions was carried out within the framework of the Estonian-Ukrainian research project “Development of Ukrainian front-line communities and tourism business in war conditions and strategies for the future” (12/29/2012–03/28/2023). The main research method was a survey of tourism business owners, employees of tourist infrastructure and attractions, representatives of tourism-oriented public organizations and the executive power that coordinates tourism activities in the front-line territories of Ukraine. The total sample consisted of 144 people from 5 regions of Ukraine: Dnipropetrovsk – 45 (31.3%), Donetsk – 18 (12.5%), Zaporizhzhia – 15 (10.4%), Sumy – 29 (20.1%). Kharkiv – 37 (25.7%) people. According to the results of the research, it was established that one of the priority areas of tourism development is cooperation within tourist clusters, which, according to the respondents, will provide an opportunity to get better access to resources, achieve advantages in marketing and in the development of a tourist product. It is the organization of tourist clusters of tourism that has many advantages, which consist in the infrastructural development of territories, increase in production productivity, attraction of investments, stimulation of innovations, etc. Communities, developing tourism, have opportunities to increase their incomes and budget, create new jobs, stimulate demand for their products, popularize cultural heritage, reincarnate in a new format and with a new image.