ROLE OF WATER TRANSPORT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN THE NORTHERN BLACK SEA OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is devoted to water transport and its role in the tourism sector. Water transport is one of the oldest forms of transport and remained the most important until the advent of transcontinental railways in the second half of the 19th century. It plays a huge role in the tourism sector and is used quite actively. The most significant advantages are a high level of comfort, a large volume of one-time loading of ships, the possibility of implementing various types and purposes of tourism (educational, business tourism, educational, shop tourism).
 The main type of sea and river transportation in tourism is cruises - travel in a vicious circle with radial trips from ports to the interior regions of countries. The main activity of water transport is to meet the needs of people in passenger transportation, as well as the demand for recreation during a sea trip.
 More than 25 years ago from Odessa it was easy to quickly and inexpensively get to anywhere in the Black Sea; a powerful fleet of passenger hydrofoils successfully competed with trains and aircraft throughout the Northern Black Sea region. By the beginning of the 1980s, hydrofoils "Kometa" and "Kolkhida" sailed from Odessa to Kherson, Kakhovka, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, and also towards Crimea – to Skadovsk, Evpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Novorossiysk and Sochi. "Comets" and "Colchis" covered the distance along the Odessa – Kherson line in 2 hours and 40 minutes, in contrast to automobile transport – 4 hours, which was much more comfortable and faster. And boats and sea trams running along the coast of the Odessa Gulf, from Kryzhanovka to Chernomorka, were one of Odessa's calling cards from the post-war times until the 1990s, when the history of Odessa sea trams and hydrofoils ended.
 Sea transport and water travel play a huge role in the tourism sector all over the world, therefore their revival is an integral part in the development and modernization of the tourism sector of the Northern Black Sea region. In the 2000s and 2010s, there were attempts to revive coastal passenger shipping in the Black Sea, but not as successful. The main obstacle to the return of high-speed coastal passenger shipping to Odessa is the seasonality and dependence on the weather, which makes water transport not as stable as the railway. Despite this, "Rockets" and "Komets" do not have competition in speed with any bus and railway on such river and sea directions as Nikolaev, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Izmail, etc. Moreover, it will serve the development of domestic and foreign tourism.