The tourist infrastructure of local communities in Ukraine: current state and impact on local economic development

Iryna Storonyanska; Andrii Dub; Oryslava Grafska; Iryna Hrynchyshyn; Olha Bilanyuk; Agata Pierscieniak

doi:10.51599/are.2021.07.02.06

Iryna Storonyanska SI “Institute of Regional Research named after M. I. Dolishniy of the NAS of Ukraine” https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0237-1409
Andrii Dub SI “Institute of Regional Research named after M. I. Dolishniy of the NAS of Ukraine” https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6377-1556
Oryslava Grafska Lviv State University of Physical Culture https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8134-3771
Iryna Hrynchyshyn SI “Institute of Regional Research named after M. I. Dolishniy of the NAS of Ukraine” https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0339-9227
Olha Bilanyuk Ivan Franko Lviv National University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2119-863X
Agata Pierscieniak Gdańsk University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1724-6766

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51599/are.2021.07.02.06

Keywords: local community, tourist destination, tourist infrastructure, pandemic.

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of our work is to investigate the presence of tourist infrastructure elements to ensure a comfortable stay of tourists in tourist destinations, which can become a driver of the development of local communities, especially in rural areas; investigation of financial support for tourism development by local governments. A derivative task of our study is to identify challenges and prospects of tourism infrastructure in tourist destinations after the pandemic.

Methodology / approach. The theoretical basis of the study is the fundamental principles of economics and the scientific research of Ukrainian and foreign scientists. For the analysis, we used data from the official web resources of local governments of Ukrainian local communities with tourist potential, information from the Booking.com and the Internet about tourist facilities and events in local communities. During the research we used the following methods: analytical (to select tourist destinations for analysis, their grouping and analysis of their tourist infrastructure); comparison (to compare the tourist infrastructure in the local communities that were the object of our study); synthesis (to conclude the general state of tourist infrastructure in tourist destinations and prospects for its development in the future), graphic (for visualization of study results).

Results. The study highlights five elements of tourist infrastructure of the most popular tourist destinations in Ukraine: travel services, transportation services, accommodation services for temporary residence, catering services, services for the organization of recreation and entertainment. We analysed the state of functioning of the tourist infrastructure in the tourist destinations of Ukraine before the introduction of lockdown. The results of the analysis showed that only four out of five elements of the tourist infrastructure were at the proper level. We described the challenges of the tourism industry, which had arisen as a result of the epidemic. In conclusion, we considered the prospects for the attitude and development of tourist infrastructure in the local communities of Ukraine after the pandemic.

Originality / scientific novelty. During the study for the first time, we selected the most popular tourist destinations in Ukraine which in 2019 received the highest revenues from tourist tax as an indicator of the official stay of tourists, we grouped them according to their dominant type of tourism and researched their tourist infrastructure. We compared the revenues from the tourist tax with the expenditures of local communities for the development of tourism and found that local communities received much more money from the tourist tax than they had spent on the development and promotion of tourism.

Practical value / implications. We show the characteristic features of the development of the tourism sector in the post-quarantine period, which can be used by local governments and businesses of tourist destinations when planning the development of tourist infrastructure.

References

1. Sechi, L., Moscarelli, R. and Pileri, P. (2020), Planning tourist infrastructures to regenerate marginalised territories: the study case of North Sardinia, Italy. City, Territory and Architecture, vol. 7, 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-019-0108-x.
2. Liu-Lastres, B., Mariska, D., Tan, X. and Ying, T. (2020), Can post-disaster tourism development improve destination livelihoods? A case study of Aceh, Indonesia. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, vol. 18, 100510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100510.
3. Mertzanis, C. and Papastathopoulos, A. (2021), Epidemiological susceptibility risk and tourist flows around the world. Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 86, 103095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103095.
4. Pierscieniak, A. and Grzebyk, M. (2020), Searching key macro-factors for cooperation in cross-border tourism: institutional matrix vs. PEST concept. European Research Studies Journal, vol. XXIII, is. 3, pp. 249–259. https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/1636.
5. Keerthi, P. and Thyagaraju, M. (2020), Tourism infrastructure development: a case study on newly formed state of AP. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, vol. 29, no. 6s, pp. 2312–2319.
6. Lin, H. H., Hsu, C. H., Liu, C. Yu., Cheng, B. Y., Wang, C. H., Liu, J. M. and Jhang, S. (2020), The impact of cultural festivals on the development of rural tourism – a case study of Da Jia Matsu pilgrimage. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 526, 2nd International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering, Energy Resources and Environment Engineering, May 22–24, 2020, Nanning, China. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/526/1/012060.
7. Ruiz-Pérez, M. and Seguí-Pons, J. M. (2020), Transport mode choice for residents in a tourist destination: the long road to sustainability (the case of Mallorca, Spain). Sustainability, vol. 12(22), 9480. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229480.
8. Kanwal, S., Rasheed, M. I., Pitafi, A. H., Pitafi, A. and Ren, M. (2020), Road and transport infrastructure development and community support for tourism: the role of perceived benefits, and community satisfaction. Tourism Management, vol. 77, 104014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.104014.
9. Mnguni, E. M., Mtapuri, O. and Giampiccoli, A. (2020), Tourism in rural areas: a case study of opportunities in the south coast of KwaZulu-natal. International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Systems, vol. 13, is. 2, pp. 96–105.
10. Fatimah, S. and Ayu, S. K. (2020), Rural tourism development: institution, disaster and communication. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 466, International Conference on Climate Smart Sustainable Agriculture, November 20–22, 2019, Majalengka, West Java, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/466/1/012023.
11. Dolezal, C. and Burns, P. M. (2015), ABCD to CBT: asset-based community development's potential for community-based tourism. Development in Practice, vol. 25, is. 1, pp. 133–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2015.982075.
12. Kotler, P., Bowen, J. T., Makens, J. C. and Baloglu, S. (2017), Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 7th ed, Pearson, UK.
13. Westcott, M. (2016), Transforming communities through tourism: a handbook for community tourism champions, available at: https://indigenoustourism.ca/corporate/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Transforming-Communities-through-Tourism.pdf.
14. Barna, M. and Tuchkovska, I. (2016), Main tendencies of management of tourist activity in Ukraine. Pidpryiemnytstvo i torhivlia, vol. 20, pp. 5–8.
15. Blahun, I. S. and Honak, I. M. (2015), Features of formation of tourist space. Modeliuvannia rehionalnoi ekonomiky, vol. 1 (25), pp. 191–201.
16. Hrabovenska, S. P. (2017), Competitiveness of territorial markets of tourist services in Ukraine, Ph.D. Thesis, Economics and management of the national economy, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine.
17. Korzh, N. V. and Basiuk, D. I. (2017), Upravlinnia destynatsiiamy [Managing destinations], Edelveis i K, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.
18. Storonyanska, I. Z. еd (2019), Stale endohenne zrostannya rehioniv Ukrayiny v umovakh detsentralizatsiyi [Sustainable endogenous growth of regions of Ukraine in the conditions of decentralization], Lviv, Ukraine.
19. Storonyanska, I., Patytska, K., Hrynchyshyn, I. and Chemerys, V. (2020), Spatial disproportions in development of territorial community under conditions of administrative and financial decentralization. Agricultural and Resource Economics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 43–62. https://doi.org/10.51599/are.2020.06.04.03.
20. Yarovyi, V. F. (2017), Status and prospects of development of enterprises and destinations in the tourism industry of the southern region. Ekonomika ta derzhava, vol. 11, pp. 25–28.
21. Dorogovkaz (2020), Rest in Ukraine 2020, available at: https://ua.dorogovkaz.com/index.php.
22. Ministry of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine (2019), Licensed register of tour operators, available at: https://www.me.gov.ua/Documents/Detail?lang=uk-UA&id=5386d976-11e4-4eb1-abdf-2948a2017c17&title=LitsenziiniiRestrSub-ktivTuroperatorskoiDiialnosti.
23. Ukrzaliznytsia (2019), For passengers, available at: https://www.uz.gov.ua.
24. Citizen passengers. How, where and how many Ukrainians traveled by long-distance service “Ukrzaliznytsia” in 2014–2015, available at: https://texty.org.ua/d/uz/#main-text.
25. Official site Bookig.com, available at: https://www.booking.com.
26. Business in the fields of culture and tourism lost 83 billion hryvnias due to quarantine, available at: https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-tourism/3134347-biznes-u-sferah-kulturi-j-turizmu-nedootrimav-83-milardi-griven-cerez-karantin-tkacenko.html.