On the Issue of Creating Tourist Clusters in Khmelnytskyi Region

Abstract

Important issues in the development of regional tourism are the provision of tourist services, formation of the market of services and infrastructure improvement. The creation of clusters in the tourism sector remains relevant. From the standpoint of geographical science, the formation of tourist clusters is quite studied. The tourist potential of Khmelnytskyi region first of all includes the objects of nature reserve and historical-cultural funds available in the regional territory, which have not been involved in tourist activity yet. They are the basis for the formation of new tourist attractions, which can be used for the development of rural tourism, job creation, finding sources of income for newly formed territorial communities in order to obtain a positive effect from their formation. It is established that the synergetic effect promotes the creation of clusters with similar specialization. Determining the prospects of the tourist cluster of Khmelnytskyi region, special attention should be paid to such a form of tourism as rural (green) tourism. Extensive implementation of green tourism in the practice of newly formed united territorial communities in the region will provide additional resources to enhance their socio-economic development. Especially relevant tourist and recreational activities are in the buffer zones of national nature parks and landscape Regional Park, which are located in the Khmelnytskyi region. It is described that the material and technical base of tourism consists of: temporary accommodation facilities; specialized transport companies; tourist and excursion institutions and their subdivisions; information and advertising services; enterprises for the production and sale of tourist goods.
 Social infrastructure is also important for the organization of high-quality recreation for tourists: the availability of housing and communal services, cultural and household services, health care, and trade. From the standpoint of traditional economic and geographical complex formation, all factors of tourist complexes are divided into two major groups: socio-economic (labor, transport, trade and catering, souvenirs, city tourist development) and natural (geographical location, nature surface area, air temperature) etc. Many scholars, as the main social factors in the development of the tourist complex distinguish: socio-cultural: cultural-historical (architectural-historical) resources, settlement, administrative-territorial division; production and economic: labor resources, the structure of the city's economy, sources of environmental pollution, transport, land resources.
 Analysis of the location of these factors from the standpoint of social geography will justify measures aimed at enhancing the development of tourism in the regional tourism complex. Mass tourism is possible only if the needs of travelers in food and accommodation are met. Relevant facilities should have a range of hygiene and waste disposal facilities for tourists. Therefore, it is important, especially in rural areas, to provide in the plans of socio-economic development and general schemes of rural development places for temporary stay of tourists, appropriate infrastructure facilities, to reserve land for their arrangement. The analysis of the possibilities of Khmelnytskyi region in the tourist market of Ukraine showed that it occupies the middle places. This is due to the transit transport and geographical location. Within this region there is a clear polarization of tourism development, which determines the spatial features of the regional tourist complex development.
 Key words: tourist cluster, Khmelnytskyi region, green tourism, socio-economic development of the region.