INNOVATIONS IN TOURISM: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS
Authors:   PhD, Associate Professor at Department of Tourism, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine, Roik Oksana 
Published: September 2022

In recent years, the sphere of tourism in Ukraine has been going through difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has become a challenge for the tourism industry, making domestic travel more popular in Ukraine, as it will take some time to resume international tourism. In the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic and the need to adhere to quarantine restrictions and social distance, it became expedient to develop such types of tourism as green (rural) and ecological tourism. To this end, the “Guidelines (Protocol) for the provision of rural green tourism services (rural hospitality) in the corona- and post-coronavirus period” were developed, which states that: “Within 2020 – the year of tourism development in rural areas, NGO Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine” in cooperation with the National Tourism Organization of Ukraine joined the global initiative of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) #Safe travels. Experts of the Union and the EU Project Geographical Indications in Ukraine and partners developed a Protocol to adapt the work of farmsteads with priority to protect human health and effectively mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its implementation will allow the owners of rural estates that provide rural green tourism services: to take effective practical measures to reduce the risk of coronavirus disease COVID-19 as owners of rural estates, their families, and tourists; to gain additional competitive advantage, guaranteeing the tourist increased attention to the protection of his health; to improve the quality of rural green tourism services (rural hospitality) taking into account the sanitary and hygienic requirements and the requirements of social distancing. The next terrible event for Ukraine was the war. On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale, aggressive war against Ukraine on the land, sea, and the air using units of the armed forces, heavy ground weapons, including long-range artillery, missiles, naval ships, and military aircraft. The invasion has already resulted in significant civilian casualties, mass destruction, and damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure and natural heritage. Russian troops are attacking peaceful Ukrainian towns and villages from various directions, including the temporarily occupied Donbas and Crimea and the north-eastern region. This is an act of war, an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and a gross violation of the UN Charter and fundamental norms and principles of international law. Russia’s military action is undoubtedly an unjustified and unprovoked act of aggression against independent and sovereign Ukraine, as well as a violation of all existing norms of international law on nature protection, sustainable development, humanitarian law, basic morals, and principles of human coexistence. In addition to the most obvious consequences of the war in many regions of Ukraine, such as deaths, destruction of homes, general destruction, and poverty, the war worsens the country’s economic situation, threatens the environment, and worsens social living conditions. Therefore, at the current stage of economic development and given the current situation in the world, it is important for the survival of businesses in the war in Ukraine is the search for modern methods and tools for managing business processes, which should be based on the principles of their adaptation to changing conditions innovative technologies. Service companies respond extremely quickly to changes and new challenges, which are characterized by a significant level of dynamism, diversification of offers in the services market, and fierce competition. Therefore, innovations are transformed into a decisive factor in determining new technologies for managing business processes of enterprises in the service sector of the regions, in particular the hotel and restaurant and tourism business. Henderson I. L., Avis M. and Tsui W. K. T., Wikhamn W., Armbrecht J. and Wikhamn B. R., Sipe L. J., Verreynne M. L., Williams A. M., Ritchie B. W., Gronum S. and Betts K. S., Thomas R. and Wood E. are considered the application of innovation potential and substantiation of economic need for innovations. Charkina T. Yu. Martseniuk L.V. Zadoia V.O. and Pikulina O.V., Smyrnov I., Liubitseva O., Kulinyak I., Zhigalo I., Yarmola K., Hrebeniuk H., Charkina T., Martseniuk L., Pikulina O. have proposed some solutions in the innovative management of enterprises and the formation of the technological component through the introduction of information systems and models, economic mechanism of sustainable tourism, marketing management of tourism enterprises, and organizational aspects of the tourism market, partially highlighting innovation strategy. The works of these authors are a significant contribution to the development of the theory of innovative management of tourism enterprises. However, today there are a limited number of publications on the development of innovations in tourism in wartime. The paper contains a review of various scientific approaches to definition of the term «innovation in tourism», to classifying innovations and evaluating the innovation activity of enterprises, to find out their applicability in the tourism industry. The author’s review of the literature sources allows for outlining the features of innovations in tourism, originating from their service character and the focus on improving interactions with consumer, for the best possible satisfaction of consumer needs, and for determining their role in increasing the competitiveness of enterprises in the tourism industry. In order to achieve the goal, the following tasks have been defined: to investigate the categorical apparatus of the concept of “innovation in tourism” (it will define the essence of this category); to offer a classification of types of innovations in the tourism business on the basis of the views of both domestic and foreign scholars; to provide a basic model for the development of innovations in the field of tourism services. The essence of the innovative approach in tourism is the creation of new and improvement of existing services, development of new markets, strategic business alliances, active introduction of modern information technology, new forms and methods of management. The effective use of innovations will lead to the creation of competitive tourism products and services both in the national and international markets. The expert evaluation study results of the innovation implementation state by tourism enterprises of the region are presented, the essence of which is the need to significantly expand and strengthen the innovation activity sphere, which should fulfil a connecting function between science, tourism business, state authorities and local governments. The practical application of such a proposal in the innovative development of the tourism sector will not only increase the competitiveness of the enterprise but also evaluate the feasibility of introducing new types of tourism products and services.