THE REALITIES OF TOURIST BUSINESS IN A PANDEMIC CONDITIONS

Abstract

Nowadays tourist business has a great potential and priority for the economy of Ukraine. This industry is identified as a priority for Ukraine`s economy. The article is devoted to the analysis of tourist enterprises and the related area of temporary accommodation and catering activity in the pandemic conditions. It is important to find out the regularity of the enterprises work in a pandemic, to express the main problems and prospects for their solution to restore the tourism industry. The work of domestic scientists, information from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine were the methodological basis for writing the article. The article presents a system of indicators for confirming the impact of tourism on the economy. According to the current economic activity codes in Ukraine, it`s defined sections and parts that reflect the activities of enterprises in these areas. As a result of the analysis of the number of tourist enterprises and hotel and restaurant industry for the last five years, it was found that most of them are small enterprises. It`s detected the tendency to reduce the number of enterprises and the main peaks of reductions.The analysis of financial results of enterprises revealed a significant decline in the profitability of tourism enterprises. The decline is due to a pandemic, quarantine conditions, a ban on hotels, cafes, travel restrictions. A study of the dynamics and structure of inbound, outbound and domestic tourists found that the pandemic reduced the flow of tourists in all directions. However, the share of domestic tourists in the structure has increased, that can be considered as an opportunity for the tourist industry survival. The article considers changes in the sale of services during 2020, that became a turning point for the tourism industry, with a significant reduction in sales. The analysis made it possible to assess the negative impact of the pandemic on the functioning of the tourism business. The main preconditions for the recovery of the tourism business are identified. In the post-quarantine period, the tourism business will need state support and diversification, active marketing development and information support of the industry for its recovery and development. Due to the analysis it is possible to understand the structure, dynamics and financial results of tourist enterprises, to study the effect of pandemic on tourism industry.