GASTRONOMIC EVENTS AS A DRIVER TO DEVELOP SMALL CITIES

Abstract

This study deals with gastronomic events of importance for the territory of the Right-bank Polissya and affect not only visitors and organizers but also other stakeholders, including local authorities, business community, local people. Many gastronomic events are designed to promote the products of own regions among the inhabitants of the area, creating a steady interest in a particular cuisine from local residents. One of the most popular forms of gastronomic events are gastronomic festivals, which are a specific tool for attracting and entertaining tourists, especially in rural areas and small cities, where gastronomy can be the only source of tourism and serve as a strong motive for tourists to visit it. Proposed the author definition of concepts «gastronomic event», «gastronomic festival». An example of the Derun gastronomic festival in Korosten of Zhytomyr region is presented. It is made the monitoring of the programs of the Derun gastronomic festival on the years and events that take place every year, a section of the tourists visit to the gastronomic event is shown. The social significance of this festival is to form the region's gastronomic brand, to satisfy the socio-cultural needs of the population, as well as of tourists, who visit it, to promote the development of gastronomic tourism in small cities, to expand offers of gastronomic tourism, to advertise regional catering enterprises, to popularize the traditional cuisine of polishchuky. The preferences of tourists about the consumption of food during the journey were promoted, which allowed to distinguish the following types: existential gastronomic tourist, experimenting gastronomic tourist, resting gastronomic tourist, gastronomic tourists, who escape from the routine. The Right-bank Polissya has enough potential for the development of gastronomic tourism. A map was drawn up by units (regions) of physical and geographical zoning of branded dishes of Right-bank Polissy. The analysis of gastronomic festivals of the Right-bank Polissya and the types of gastronomic tourists are distinguished according to gastronomic preferences. The novelty of the study is a comprehensive analysis of a number of sources of information - from ethnographic works and cookbooks to websites of gastronomic festivals and fairs - and further generalization of information for a detailed analysis of the basics of forming gastronomic tourism brands in the region. The gastronomic brand envisages the promotion of the territory as an exporter of unique high quality food products. Its main task is to export gastronomic achievements of the regions of Ukraine, creating leading positions at the international level in the field of gastronomic tourism. Food in tourism is a major sector that has a significant impact on the social and economic development of the country. The support and promotion of national food options is clearly needed to preserve the area's regional identity and enhance its tourist attractiveness.Territorial branding is by far the leading trend in promoting the regions of the country, in particular, the Right-bank Polesie in the tourist market.