MODERN CONDITION OF THE TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE IN TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Introduction. The current stage of social development in Ukraine is characterized by the growing role and reinforced responsibility of territorial communities in securing the socio-economic development of territories. The processes of decentralization and reforming of local governance foundations currently taking place in the country create new opportunities for efficient management of communities’ capacity to create a ground to launch the mechanisms of economic growth against the mechanisms of the traditional paternalistic model. Territorial communities can be interesting for tourists from the viewpoint of their specific traditions or cultural, creative, other opportunities that the communities’ residents have, while other communities are simply the places of territorial localization of attractions and natural resources interesting for tourists. The paper aims to research the current condition of the tourism infrastructure in territorial communities. Results. The issues of territorial communities’ activity in the tourism industry have been researched in the paper. The features of the functioning of the tourism infrastructure are highlighted, in particular through the division of the territorial communities into five groups based on the dominating direction of providing touristic and recreational services. Local tourism-oriented public organizations are characterized. In particular, the paper establishes the fact that hotels, motels, hostels, campings, resorts, health camps, recreation centers, private farms are the temporary accommodation services providers to tourists and visitors, while restaurants, cafes, fast-foods, etc. are the catering services providers. With the view to analyze the functioning and perspectives of tourism and recreation industry development at the local level, the most popular territorial communities in Ukraine among the tourists and visitors are selected and those getting the largest revenues to their budgets from the tourism fee (as an indicator of official stay of tourists) are included in the analysis. The tourism activity entities are analyzed across regions, including the legal entities providing services on the organization of touristic trips. The transport infrastructure of tourism destinations is evaluated. On this basis, the burden on railway stations with passengers in territorial communities oriented at vacations at the seaside, mountain types of tourism, and cultural-historical tourism is tracked. Conclusions. «The Booking» is proven to be the resource with the best choice of temporary accommodations suggestions for tourists among the tourism destinations under research. The pricing policy regarding the accommodation in the tourism destinations is analyzed. The availability of cultural and art facilities in some tourism destinations and their impact on the attraction of tourists to a certain region is substantiated. Key words: destination, tourism, tourism industry, consolidated territorial community, cluster.