Opportunities and Limitations of Tourism and Hospitality to Meet the Social Needs of Tourists

Abstract

The transformation of tourism into a remarkable phenomenon of the twentieth century was due, among other things, to the development of human social needs, for the implementation of which there were quite a lot of opportunities in the field of tourism and hospitality. In particular, this was reflected in the formation of various types of tourism and the development of new types of accommodation and temporary accommodation, especially individual ones. The purpose of the study is to identify the possibility of interpreting social needs realized in the field of tourism and hospitality as manifestations of a special need — the need for tourism as such, which must be met even in conditions of external restrictions, which are considered to be the provisions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was carried out using methods of generalization, systematization, analysis and synthesis of material corresponding to the topic. Achievement of the goal of the study involved the solution of three tasks such as revealing the nature of social needs and determining the relationship between their state and the development of the tourism and hospitality sector; analyzing the features of meeting the social needs of tourists in the individual accommodation facilities sector; identifying opportunities to meet social needs in the special conditions of the tourism and hospitality sector (overcoming the restrictions caused by the pandemic). Tourism is interpreted as a special socio-cultural need of a person as a traveler and as a form of meeting other social needs. The development and implementation of the latter is determined by the opportunities associated with the sphere of tourism and hospitality, a special role among which is currently played by the individual accommodation facilities (IAF). Since the need for tourism, for example, relating to the need to get new experiences, does not have a saturation limit, then when unfavorable conditions are formed (for example, pandemics) it does not disappear, but remains in a latent form. It can be implemented even if there are minimal opportunities to overcome restrictions. On the one hand, the study showed that an incentive is being formed for the further development of virtual forms of meeting social needs in the tourism sector in the current conditions associated with the pandemic. On the other hand, it showed that the need for «live» tourism remains.