Rural Tourism in Ivano- Frankivsk Region Bachelor Thesis for Obtaining the Degree Tourism and Hospitality Management Submitted to Kristof Tomej Iryna Romaniuk 1211030 Vienna, May 29, 2016 Affidavit I hereby affirm that this Bachelor’s Thesis represents my own written work and that I have used no sources and aids other than those indicated. All passages quoted from publications or paraphrased from these sources are properly cited and attributed. The thesis was not submitted in the same or in a substantially similar version, not even partially, to another examination board and was not published elsewhere. 29.05.2016 Date Signature 2 Acknowledges First of all, author wants to convey heartfelt gratitude to her thesis supervisor Mr. Kristof Tomej for providing with everyday support, professional guidelines and great knowledge during this year. Furthermore, author is very thankful to her family, which has given her the opportunity of studying at Modul University Vienna and supporting throughout the whole life. Additionally, the author is very grateful to her friends and study colleges Irina and Ecaterina, who made the last 3,5 years of her life the most memorable and incomparable. In addition, I would like to thank teaching staff of Modul University and all survey participants. 3 Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify main issues of the development of rural tourism in Ukraine, particularly Ivano-Frankivsk region, and to find appropriate solutions for facing them and improving the service level. Currently, tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, which shows much more positive perspectives and a huge range of opportunities in the future. People travel to distant destinations for participating in different events and exploring new lifestyles. That’s why every destination has to understand needs of tourists and to create effective strategy offering benefits, which guest can find in this country. This study has been made because of the lack of information how actually rural tourism can be coordinated in the Carpathian mountains. The research is based on primary data, collected from a guest surveys, as well as academic articles, books and web-sites. The main findings indicate a great potential and importance of development of rural tourism in Ivano-Frankivsk region. A SWOT analysis based on the collected information is then used to suggest strategies on coordination of small businesses in rural areas and promoting Ukraine as a perfect destination with beautiful nature. Keywords: rural tourism, agritourism, rural areas in Ivano-Frankivsk region. 4 Table of Content Affidavit ....................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledges .............................................................................................................. 3 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 4 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................... 9 2.1 The Concept of Rural Tourism ..................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Types of Rural Tourism ...................................................................... 12 2.2 International Categorization of Rural Tourism ........................................... 13 2.2.1 Approaches to Rural Tourism in the UK and in the Nordic Countries15 2.2.2 French Experience of Recreation Services in Rural Areas ................. 17 2.2.3 Features of Rural Tourism in Spain and Italy ..................................... 20 2.3 IT Promotion and Marketing of European Agricultural Product in the Context of Globalization ......................................................................................... 22 3 Case Study of Ivano-Frankivsk Region........................................................... 23 3.1 Short Description of Ivano-Frankivsk Region ............................................ 23 3.2 Development Strategy of the Ivano-Frankivsk region 2020 ....................... 25 4 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 27 5 Results and Discussions .................................................................................... 29 6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 38 7 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 39 Appendices ................................................................................................................. 42 5 List of Figures Figure 1: gender differentiation among tourists in Ivano-Frankivsk region ... 29 Figure 2: purpose of the trip to Ivano-Frankivsk region ................................. 30 Figure 3: age differentiation among tourists in Ivano-Frankivsk region ........ 30 Figure 4: usage of different types of transport while travelling to Ivano- Frankivsk region .............................................................................................. 31 Figure 5: correlation between the purpose of the trip and accommodation type .......................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 6: correlation between the amount of spending money and length of stay .................................................................................................................. 32 Figure 7: percentage of tourists stayed over in different cities in Ivano- Frankivsk region ............................................................................................. 33 Figure 8: information sources about vacation in Ivano-Frankivsk region ....... 34 6 1 Introduction Ukraine is situated in the center of Europe, which gives it a lot of opportunities and prospects. Even, with all these benefits, nobody can say, that this is a well- developed country. Currently, tourism is a very fast growing industry in many countries and has third place among person’s spending costs, after costs of food and accommodation (Newsome, Moore and Dowling, 2013). Tourism income is growing day by day and plays a very important role in the economy. This thesis discussing considering the potential of rural tourism offers in Ivano- Frankivsk region, situated in Western Ukraine. Despite having substantial recreational resources, tourism here is very slowly developing compared to other Central European countries. Only few years ago people have understood the importance of such business, but the lack of knowledge and investment do not allow them to offer a competitive service. I will try to give an explanation and advices in developing tourism in Ivano-Frankivsk region plus successful past experiences of well-developed countries can avoid future issues. My objectives are: - to identify the barriers of developing tourism industry in Ivano- Frankivsk region; - to find more solutions, which can help us to be a competitive tourism destination; Much has to be changed in order to increase economy in Ukraine, and rural tourism is one of them, which can solve problems of poor quality of life, high unemployment rate, low salaries and keep young people in their country (Kudla, 2013). “Tourism is the activity of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one year for leisure, business and other purpose” (UNWTO, 1995, p.10). Therefore, as suggested, tourism has an impact on different areas of a tourist destination, which are as follows: economy, natural environment and built infrastructure, and local people and tourists 7 themselves (UNWTO, n.d.). The vision of tourism is based on meeting human needs and wishes. Village and mountain areas began to play an important role in leisure and tourism all around the world, because people want to be more sustainable and environmental friendly (Roberts & Hall, 2003). Nowadays, some people cannot afford themselves to buy a vacation near the sea or ocean, and some people are just tired of luxury summer resorts and prefer to experience traditional countryside holidays in silent villages and mountain areas. According to Borg (2008, as cited in Kommpula, 2000), rural tourism is defined as, tourism which takes place outside of densely populated communities and tourists centers. Lane (1994, as cited in Roberts and Hall, 2003) suggests that there are three main characteristics, which clearly identify areas as rural: - population density and the size of settlement; - land use and economy; - traditional social structures; The tourism industry in regions such as Ivano-Frankivsk can be shown as a network of independent actors. They are able to co-operate in order to produce and offer final products and satisfy customer’s needs (Kommpula, 2000). While being a part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had the best tourism attractions, but not anymore because of the poor services, economic problems, old hotels and political issues (Hudman, Jackson, 2008). There is a Green Union in Ukraine from 1996, which helps people to find all necessary information on their web site www.greentour.com.ua. It also provides all relevant information such as photos, description, possibilities and even, which bird can wake you up in the morning.