River travel as a direction for the development of tourism in Ukraine

Abstract

This article explores the present state of the functioning of the market of water travel, which influences the development of the sphere of recreation and tourism in Ukraine. The internal connections between problems of modernization of the river transport sector and processes of activation of the operation of tourism business entities are revealed. It is established that in Ukraine tourist transportation by river is declining within the boundaries of the country and the freight market of cruise ships of Ukrainian shipping companies is shrinking. There is a decrease in passenger traffic in the tourist market of Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odessa regions and in Ukraine as a whole, compared to 2005, by almost seven times. It is determined that the market of European cruise services increases the volume of tourist trips by inland waterways due to the construction of river liners and investment in port infrastructure. The main factors that negatively influence the development of river travel in Ukraine are analyzed; the most important are the lack of budgetary financial resources and foreign investments aimed at modernizing the tourist infrastructure by the construction of a river cruise and smalltonnage passenger fleet. Future directions of development of river trips and cruise tourism on the main waterways of Ukraine are proposed. The emphasis is placed on the necessity to develop a set of measures that ensure the activation of tourist traffic in river transport enterprises in the regions of Ukraine, the formation of an attractive climate for investment in the market for river cruises. It is determined that the introduction of modern instruments for managing tourist traffic on water transport requires the development of program measures for the revival of river passenger transport, modernization of tourist infrastructure. Development of river tourist trips in Ukraine will be facilitated by the development of a strategy for modernization of river ports and the construction of modern river passenger transport, the development of the freight market, attracting investment by international cruise companies and Ukrainian tour operators on the basis of public-private partnership. It is necessary to provide state support to domestic companies that carry out modernization and construction of new-generation passenger ships and small-tonnage passenger fleets to provide regional water transportation of tourists, their recreational services, to develop tourist trips and transportation on the Dnieper and the Danube, as well as water tourist routes between coastal tourist centres of the Black Sea.