APPLICATION OF GIS TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FORMATION OF THE GEOSPATIAL DATABASE OF GASTRONOMY TOURISM OF UKRAINE

Abstract

Gastronomic tourism as a rapidly developing type of tourism, and being a complex system, requires quality management. The use of geoinformation systems and technologies can contribute to the formation of management decisions regarding the effective development of this type of tourism. 
 The article examines the essence of gastronomic tourism and the use of GIS technologies to form a geospatial database. The cartographic method of researching the presented phenomenon is applied and the possible cartometric operations in the work of the tourist GIS of the gastronomic direction are described. In this study we have developed a technological scheme for creating gastronomic tourism routes using GIS technologies. We present the conceptual and structural-logical model of the geospatial database of gastronomic tourism developed by us. A geospatial data base of gastronomic tourism for Odesa region, which is distinguished by its gastronomic colour and is in great demand among travelers, has been created and visualized. Local specialized objects of gastronomic tourism of this region were found and the database tables were filled with reliable attributive data. The locations of the concentration of gastronomic objects in Odesa are visualized with the help of a heatmap, and typical requests of users regarding the identification of objects of interest when designing gastronomic routes are given. The city of Odessa was identified as the most attractive place for gastronomic tourism in Odesa region, as it is the one around which the vast majority of various objects of gastronomic tourism is concentrated. Various gastronomic routes through Odesa region and Odesa with buffer zones along them have been designed, which can be of interest to both tourists and tour operators when creating gastro tours. The proposed methodology can be used for a similar analysis of other regions and, in our opinion, will contribute to increasing the number of tourist trips to the region and the development of gastronomic tourism in Ukraine as a whole.