Problems of the development of cultural tourism in the Carpathian region: the vision of consumers and service providers

Abstract

Tourism development in Ukraine has improved in terms of tourist flows, both as a diversification of tourism demand and tourism products in the last decades. Cultural tourism is a promising direction of tourist activity and occupies a leading position in the modern global tourist management system. The object of research is cultural tourism within the tourist destination of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Regarding this, the authors revisit the phenomenon of cultural tourism in the country, in order to identify cultural tourism potential through cultural consumption among tourists, applying a special tourism survey. The purpose of this research is to identify the main problems of the development of cultural tourism in the Carpathian region from the point of view of demand and supply of cultural tourism programs based on the results of a comprehensive sociological study on the evaluation of tourist objects and the possibility of their inclusion in the cross-border tourist product “Carpathian Cultural Route”. The results of the survey demonstrated responses from 264 consumers of cultural tourism, which is 2,5% of the number of tourists (general population), and 140 respondents – employees of cultural institutions (objects of cultural tourism), the calculated sample of which was 28% of providers of cultural tourism services. The estimated sample was 28% of cultural tourism service providers. Among the positive aspects of the visit, tourists noted the price policy of institutions acceptable to them, the high level of authenticity and historical and cultural value of objects, the appropriate quality of service, and emotional comfort when visiting cultural and historical objects. According to consumers, the main problems of the development of cultural tourism are the low level of infrastructure support of objects and tourist destinations in general, the limited range of additional services, and limited information about the object. The authors emphasize the importance of developing culturally coherent policies to increase the competitiveness of tourist destinations. The most significant problems of the development of cultural tourism from the point of view of employees of tourist objects of cultural tourism are low level of infrastructure development of cultural tourist objects and tourist destinations in general, insufficient financing of institutions, low level of monetization of objects, low level of tourist and cultural activities in a tourist destination, insufficient advertising of the tourist object, imperfection of state tools for regulating tourist activity within cultural objects, low qualification of employees. Scientific developments on this topic will foster the application of innovative approaches towards the differentiation of cultural tourism objects, which, as a consequence, will help to target potential consumers and improve cultural tourism programs.