Abstract. The tourism industry occupies an important place in the development of many countries around the world. Revenues from the provision of tourist services support about 50 related economic activities, which employ about 5% of the working population. Despite the gradual recovery of the economy caused by hostilities in eastern Ukraine during 2015—2020, its sharp decline in 2020, following the declaration of a global pandemic, was perhaps the largest in the last 20 years. The tourism industry has undergone significant transformations. If in 2019 the export of tourism amounted to 29.3 million people, a year later it was 2.5 times less. A similar deterioration is observed in tourism imports, where the decline in 2019/2020 ranged from 13.7 million to 3.4 million, respectively. The decline in tourist flows to Ukraine and abroad has caused negative chain changes in the functioning of Ukraine’s largest transport carriers. Thus, the fall in passenger air traffic in 2020 by 64.2% led to an increase in losses by UAH 0.4 billion in the national airline Ukraerorukh, the fall in passenger traffic by rail by 64.2% increased the loss by UAH 14.9 billion in PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia. And if air travel is more focused on the export of tourist flow, then rail transport is focused on the domestic market. Thus, the program of development of air communication within national borders needs detailed revision. At the same time, the closure of the Ukrainian border and the limited ability to travel have attracted the Ukrainian tourism market. During 2020, there was an increase in the cost of leisure services by an average of 25—30%, with the same quality of services provided. Due to the underdevelopment of premium-class recreation, approaches to investing in the expansion of this segment need to be reconsidered. The lack of sufficient investments of the state and business in the development of roads, reduces access to many quality places of nature, architectural monuments and so on. Thus, making appropriate adjustments to the development programs of the tourism industry at the national, regional and local levels becomes a priority in bringing the quality of tourism services to a new level and will provide an opportunity to increase revenues from the provision of tourism services.
Keywords: tourism industry, tourism export, tourism import, tourist services, pandemic, quarantine measures.
JEL Classification Z32
Formulas: 0; fig.: 3; tabl.: 1; bibl.: 22.