Perspective directions of development of local gastronomy tourism in the conditions of European integration

Abstract

The article identifies the main aspects of gastronomy tourism in Ukraine and in the world and possible prospects and trends for further development of gastronomy tourism in our country. The variety of gastronomic festivals and tours in the leading regions of the country available in Ukraine are analyzed. Factors and entities of development of gastronomic tourism in each region and the reasons of their uneven application are allocated. The perspective areas of gastronomy tourism development in Ukraine to create a promising and competitive product on the international market of tourist services are outlined. Ukraine as a new tourism destination is increasingly establishing itself on the tourists’ travel map. The information is supplemented by various ratings from international tourist guides, which recommend travelers to turn their eyes to Ukraine. In Ukraine, the tourism industry is in its infancy, but its operation has a significant impact on the economy and is quite promising. Ukraine has very promising conditions and opportunities for activating the tourist capacity, in particular, due to the availability of unique natural and recreational resources, historical and cultural monuments, rich flora and fauna, areas of various forms of recreation, interesting and delicious dishes. Forming the innovation clusters, which are groups of enterprises, firms, organizations, and institutions operating in one (or several related) business area by economic interests and regional characteristics is one of the perspective forms of economic integration and development in the tourism industry of Ukraine. The advantage and novelty of the cluster approach are that it provides significant importance to the microeconomic component, as well as the territorial and social aspects of economic development. In modern conditions, the improvement of methods of organizational, financial, and resource-based support for tourism development at the macro, meso-, and micro levels is highly relevant. The intensification of the tourism companies’ activity should be based on the expansion of the possibilities of regional investment processes management in the specified direction and the combination of efficient state regulation of the economy with market self-regulation.