DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE TOURISM AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMICALLY DEPRESSIVE REGIONS OF UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS

Irena Svidruk

Lviv University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine

E-mail: irenasvidruk@ukr.net

Mariia Topornytska

Lviv University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine

E-mail: Topornytskamaria@i.ua

Iryna Melnyk

Lviv University of Trade and Economics, Ukraine

E-mail: gavesh_ta@gmail.com

Submission: 12/25/2019

Accept: 1/7/2020

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the research is to study the current state and possible prospects for the development of creative tourism in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians, in particular, mountain recreational zones of Skole district of Lviv region. The methods of interviewing the subjects of tourism activity of the Carpathian region of Lviv Oblast are used to analyze the current state and creative potential, focus groups on potential acquirers of creative tourism services are created; situational analysis of possible scenarios for the tourism business of Skolivschyina is conducted. We analyze the definition of creative tourism and its conceptual differences from other types of tourism. As a result of the study of the recreational and cultural offer available in the mountainous regions of the Lviv region of Ukraine and the analysis of the development of modern tendencies of the development of creative tourism, the directions and tools of the innovative restructuring of the tourist model of Skolivschyna are proposed to enhance its creative component. Economically depressed regions of the Ukrainian Carpathians, in particular the Skole district of Lviv region, can take the leading positions in the resort direction of servicing flows of both Ukrainian and foreign tourists due to the active development of creative forms of tourism. The development of creative tourism will help increase the employment of local people, international cooperation, attract tourists to the knowledge of the rich natural and historical and cultural heritage of Skole region, preserve the ecological balance of the region. Implementation of creative ideas into the real practice of tourist services in Skole region opens up real prospects for strengthening synergistic effects on the development of other micro-destinations of economically depressed regions of the Ukrainian Carpathians.

Keywords: mountain areas; tourist destination; historical and cultural heritage; local authenticity; tourist offer.

1. INTRODUCTION

Modern society is dynamically changing in all spheres of social, political, economic and social life. The imposition of decentralization processes in Ukraine on the global globalization or trends make the need for a qualitative transformation of approaches to the tourism business, become its updating on innovative and creative bases.

The challenges of today require the fastest solution to the problem of keeping and developing tourist infrastructure, the need to introduce the latest technologies of tourist services, to spread the positive image of tourist destinations of Ukraine in the world, in particular, by preserving and promoting historical and cultural values, wide advertising of architectural monuments and authenticity. Such qualitative changes in tourist offers can combine leisure, cognitive, creative functions, as well as change the best economic position of residents of tourist regions, attract additional investments in the Ukrainian economy.

The steady growth of quantitative and qualitative demand in tourism services in Ukraine leads to the emergence of new opportunities to create creative elements of the tourist offer. Creativity in this case can be interpreted as a systematic set of innovatively colored characteristics of tourists' perception of existing and promising recreational and cognitive, educational and entertaining services, whose creativity impulses meet the needs of creative renewal of the tourist market.

The tourism industry is traditionally a priority area for the development of most areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians. In particular, the development of ski resorts is the main tourist activity of the Skole district of Lviv region. Skiing infrastructure began to develop actively in the area as early as the 1960s and today includes 5 cableways, 29 arc current collectors, 30 ski runs of varying complexity.

The peculiarity of the tourist development of the region is a significant predominance of tourist flows in the winter, which negatively affects the functioning and maintenance of tourist infrastructure in other time periods. In addition, most existing ski resorts in Skole district do not meet the current quality requirements for the provision of tourist services, which requires a significant increase in investment in infrastructure development.

Therefore, creative tourism, which is becoming more and more popular both in the world and in Ukraine, can be considered as a significant lever for the creative transformation of the tourist development of the Ukrainian Carpathians.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Despite the fact that creative tourism is one of the quite new forms of social organization of leisure travelers, the study of its formation and features of development is a significant scientific interest of modern researchers. In particular, the modern vision of creative tourism emphasizes that it gives the tourist the opportunity to develop their own creative potential by actively receiving not only historical, cognitive, but also social and everyday impressions from the place of the trip (RICHARDS; MARQUES, 2012).

According to the definition of UNESCO (ALÇADA; LISITZIN; MANZ, 2013), creative tourism is a journey aimed at gaining life experiences through immersion in the artistic and cultural heritage of a resting place, creating a mental connection between travelers and locals.

Therefore, creative tourism, closely linked to the inner world of the traveler and his or her worldview, is considered by modern researchers to be a direct factor in the personal development of the modern tourist (SUGATHAN; RANJAN, 2019). The International Tourism Tourism Network proposes its own conceptual vision of creative tourism as a new generation of tourism, based on the co-creation of tourists and local residents in creating a tourism product (UNWTO, 2018).

According to the findings of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Switzerland), creative tourism is a conceptual framework for the various forms of tourism, combining, in particular, existential authenticity, creativity and individual experience (HOCKINGS; STOLTON; DUDLEY, 2000).

SLAC National Accelerator Lab & Stanford University scholars say that, by denying the static of cultural offerings, creative tourism creates a new dimension for the tourist's creative needs and satisfies him by participating in creative activities, authentic crafts and customs, educational programs (GHIMIRE; UPRETI, 2011).

Researchers at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) argue that the use of creative elements in developing the concept and managing the destinations of tourist destinations can guarantee success in the face of ever-increasing competition in the tourism market (LINDROTH; RITALAHTI; SOISALON-SOININEN, 2007).

Analyzing the current situation, we can conclude that creative tourism is based on small creative programs of individual micro-destinations, which are not an important element of the proposal in the overall tourist offer of the destination, and that operational development strategies need to be innovatively developed and refined (MORGAN, PRITCHARD, PRIDE; DRPIC, VUCENOVIC, CHAPETA, 2019).

Today, the elements of service creation are being actively introduced by a large number of tourist sites in the European tourism market. Examples include Creative Austria: Arts and Culture – Discover, Experience, Create (BONK; HURICH; LEIMÜLLER, 2016), which includes programs to immerse tourists in the atmosphere of the creative arts and culinary holidays, or Paris Creative Writers is a tourist destination that offers travelers the opportunity to feel like residents of ancient castles, participants in children's art studios, or guests of Impressionist art workshops (ARGOD, 2014).

At the same time, Ukrainian researchers have not paid much attention to the creation and development of creative tourism. Given the significant potential of creative tourism to positively influence the development of local culture, its ability to attract a large number of population of tourist regions to the provision of tourist services, the study of the main aspects of its development in the economically depressed regions of the Ukrainian Carpathians is very relevant.

The purpose of this article is to explore the current state and possible prospects for the development of creative tourism in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians, in particular mountain recreational zones of Skole district of Lviv region.

3. DATA AND METHODOLOGY

The official methodology of tourism statistics in Ukraine (STATE STATISTICS SERVICE OF UKRAINE, 2015), methods of interviewing the subjects of tourist activity of the Carpathian region of Lviv Oblast are used for the analysis of the current state and creative potential. and local residents, a situational analysis of possible scenarios for the creation of tourism business in Skolivschyna is conducted.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

It is worth noting for a qualitative understanding of the creation and development of the concept of creative tourism that its basic concepts are closely intertwined with cultural tourism, which has been actively developing in the territories of the Ukrainian Carpathians in recent years.

The emphasis of the journey on the elements of creativity, combined with the importance of authenticity and recreational resources of the tourist object defines the features of creative tourism.

Expectations of local cultural and cognitive experiences are gaining popularity both among Ukrainian and international tourists who are trying to satisfy their creative and creative aspirations. The current trends of immersion in local authenticity involve not so much acquaintance with the sights of the historical heritage of the region of travel, but the efforts of the traveler to gain experience of real living in a cultural environment new to themselves locality.

The Carpathian mountain system is located in the eastern part of Central Europe, in the territory of Ukraine, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Austria. The Ukrainian Carpathians are part of the mountain system of the Eastern Carpathians in the West of Ukraine, occupying an area over 280 km in length and over 110 km in width.

The saturation of the Ukrainian Carpathians by rivers is 4-7 times higher than similar indicators of other regions of Ukraine. There are many picturesque lakes here, including Brebenescul is the highest mountain in Ukraine. Numerous waterfalls are popular tourist sites. The share of protected areas is almost 13%, which is three times more than the average in Ukraine. There are more than 25 springs in the territory of Lviv region, from which 10 types of mineral waters originate, around which the Ukrainian balneological resorts of Morshyn, Truskavets and Skhidnytsia have formed (ONUFRIV, 2015).

Entrepreneurs of Lviv region began to look for new models of tourism development, in particular the development of creative directions in this industry. The idea of creativity in the world has become particularly popular in the context of the development of such areas as “experience tourism”, “entertainment tourism”, “educational tourism” (ATELJEVIC; TOMLJENOVIC, 2017).

Sinse creativity in its essence is to add new qualities to existing tourism products; it becomes an extremely important source of innovative change. The creative rethinking of tourism services can generate additional revenue from the development of cultural traditions, the promotion of arts, crafts and traditions, and thus the tourism business will have new opportunities to strengthen its identity capital.

The Carpathian mountain territories occupy 16% of the area of the Lviv region in Ukraine, with more than 155 thousand people (6% of the population of Ukraine) living in 196 settlements (CABINET OF MINISTERS OF UKRAINE, 2013). One of the officially recognized mountain areas – Skole district is located in the southwest of Lviv region (Table 1).

Production in the amount of UAH 665.8 million (0.7% of sales volume of Lviv region) is sold by industrial enterprises of Skole district for 2018, which is 119.3% more than in 2017 (Table 2). 98.4% are in the production of manufacturing, in particular: food industry 73.9%, wood industry – 12.9%, mechanical engineering – 9.8%, light industry – 1.7%, thermal energy production – 1.2% , water supply 0.5%. The volume of sales per person in 2018 amounted to UAH 13.9 thousand (in the Lviv region – UAH 35.8 thousand).

The business activities of small and medium-sized enterprises are facilitated by the Program of increasing the competitiveness of Lviv region.

Table 1: Administrative and territorial characteristics of Skole district (at the beginning of 2019)

Category	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Lviv region
˗ number of districts	20
˗ square, sq. km	21831
˗ population density, people per 1 sq. km	116.3	116.2	116.1	116.1	115.9	115.5
˗ number of employees, persons	516382	502710	483064	473867	467109	474083
˗ average monthly salary	2788.94	2961.05	3646.31	4558.50	6390.97	8000.55
Skolivskyi district
˗ square, sq. km	1471
cities	1
˗ urban-type settlement (urban settlements, i.e. townships)	2
˗ rural areas	53
˗ population density, people per 1 sq. Km	32.4	32.5	32.4	32.4	32.3	32.2
˗ number of inhabitants, persons	47636	47804	47705	47641	47473	47358
˗ urban settlements	13162	13221	13216	13202	13167	13158
˗ countryside	34474	34583	34489	34439	34306	34200
˗ number of employees, persons	4748	4749	4720	5006	4975	10319
˗ average monthly salaryа	2979.60	3047.18	3601.56	4161.55	5730.37	8339.43

Source: at the beginning of the year, according to the DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS IN THE LVIV REGION, 2019

In particular, 32 microprojects are implemented in the district at the expense of regional and local budgets in 2018 (DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS IN THE LVIV REGION, 2019).

The tourist potential of the Lviv Carpathians is actively represented at international exhibitions and also in promotional tours.

In general, a number of projects of creative direction are launched in the region in 2017-2018, including the following: Gastronomy Lviv Region, Mandry Lviv Region: Natural and Echolocation, Inclusive Tourism in Action, Active Leisure for Orphans.

Table 2: Key Performance Indicators of Skole District Enterprises (at the beginning of the year, according to the DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS IN THE LVIV REGION, 2019)

Indicator	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
All businesses
˗ number of enterprises, units	154	156	113	136	146
˗ number of enterprises per 10 thousand population, units	32	33	24	29	31
˗ number of employees, persons	1578	1609	1705	7588	8425
˗ personnel costs, million UAH	71.4	101.0	98.3	761.0	1049.8
˗ volume of sales (goods, services) excluding VAT, million UAH	609.8	1150.8	1290.4	6558.0	11245.8
Proportion of enterprises that made a profit,%	71.1	82.6	72.4	78.0	83.1
The share of enterprises that received losses,%	28.9	17.4	27.6	22.0	16.9
Small businesses
˗ number of enterprises, units	145	149	105	126	133
˗ number of enterprises per 10 thousand population, units	30	31	22	27	28
˗ number of employees, persons	645	666	699	682	820
˗ personnel costs, million UAH	17.4	24.5	25.2	38.1	58.0
˗ volume of sales (goods, services) excluding VAT, million UAH	99.9	251.8	240.1	327.9	488.1

Source: Completed by authors according to the data DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS IN THE LVIV REGION, 2019)

The International Tourism Day, the Lviv Tourist Market place within the framework of the MEF, the International Hospitality Festival “HoReCa SHOW Lviv” and the International Mountain Day are particularly important for the image of the region. More than 311 km of active tourism routes, 124 picnic sites, 6 recreational areas and a mountain haven have been arranged in the Carpathians.

The tourist and recreational potential of Skole district of Lviv Oblast is 93 recreation centers and about 320 agro-settlements (Table 3). The most successful tourist sites in Skolivshchyna are National Park “Skole Beskydy”, “Berdo” Landscape Reserve, State Historical and Cultural Reserve “Tustan”, 35 locally-owned natural reserve, 64 mineral water sources that can be used in balneology. The most powerful enterprises in the tourism industry are: such ski resorts as “Zakhar Berkut”, “Tysovets”, “Plai”, “Vezha Vedmezha” (SKOLE REGIONAL STATE ADMINISTRATION, 2019).

Each object of tourist destination can independently develop creative destinations of tourism, counting on its own ability to produce those tourist products that will attract tourists in an effort to gain a new historical and cultural or ethnic and cognitive experience during the holiday.

Table 3: Characterization of tourist potential of Skole district

Hotels and similar accommodation	Skolivskyi district					Lviv region, 2019
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Number of accomodations	557	519	505	358	477	5642
Disposable capacity, seats	1368	1248	1202	778	1124	11450
Number of placed – total	18817	28478	24844	23797	33661	547.2
Number of accommodation – foreigners	123	33	18	45	84	128.7
Number of children's health and recreation facilities	9	10	7	7	7	144
Number of children placed in institutions	55	57	97	31	24	20048

The motivation to travel in today's dynamic social environment is often not so much a creative and creative proposal as the desire of the tourist to explore the directions of life unknown to him. In this case, creative travel programs can be an important part of the additional offer. Therefore, the creativity of the industry as a process of transformation can sometimes develop even faster than other forms of modern tourism. Creative tourism planning should focus on the link between cultural resources and the life of the local community (INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE, 2010).

Therefore, particular attention is paid to the value aspects of cultural and historical heritage or local authenticity in choosing such forms of development, which is crucial for providing positive customer experiences, gaining economic benefits for residents of the tourist destination and minimizing the risks of possible creative product rejection.

The possibility of developing creative tourism as a segment of the destination economy depends on the perception of the following business units:

· personal creative motives of both the tourist and the host (tourist service provider) are important for the development of creative tourism;

· the development of creative tourism should assume the function of preserving and enhancing cultural and natural values and resources, permanently developing tools to prevent their destruction;

· the development of creative tourism is possible even in the case of lack of cultural, natural, recreational and recreational or authentic resources; it is important to find the least opportunities for its development, and creativity can become a source of updating and updating of existing tourist product and such micro-destinations (Figure 1).

Despite the rather rapid development of the tourism industry in the Skole district of Lviv region, the main problems of its functioning should be highlighted. The first obstacle for tourists is the poor state of road infrastructure on the way to and ski resorts. Life support systems such as water supply and sewerage in a large number of tourist sites may also be considered as imperfect. Very important is the problem of safety of vacationers. Unfortunately, there is an insufficient number of rescue specialists and medical workers in the area.

Factors of the second row include a pronounced seasonality, which causes under-utilization of objects in the off-season, lack of promotional activities, urgency of reconstruction of children's and youth recreation facilities. Some business owners do not pay enough attention to the service and timely updating of the material and technical base of the tourist service.

Figure 1: Creativity model of tourist destination of Skolivschyna

It is worth mentioning the instability and imperfection of the legal basis of entrepreneurial activity and a very high level of shadowing of labour relations among the institutional problems of tourism development in Skolivschyna.

Recreational tourism potential development of these territories is analyzed by means of SWOT analysis (Figure 2).

At the same time, the lack of a methodologically complete toolkit for carrying out such a study and the inconsistency of domestic researchers regarding the criterion characteristics of the studied parameters require a comprehensive rethinking and clear structuring of the characteristics of the creative management of the national economy.

It should be noted that the results of the evaluation of creative activity at the macro level have both informative value (creation of databases of creative high-tech products, creative technologies and creative developers), and purely managerial, since they allow to identify and, accordingly, to fix weaknesses in the system of creative and innovative development. (TOMLJENOVIC; MARUSIC, 2019).

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
- border location of the part mountain areas; - reserves of forest resources; - the presence of a large number of cultural heritage monuments; - high recreational potential of the region; - reserves of mineral springs; - high hydropower potential; - presence of different landscape and climatic zones; - rich in flora and fauna.	- lack of land; - practical absence own energy resources; - lack of a rail link with the EU that runs through mountainous territories - concentration of production in cities; - slow development of small cities, towns and villages; - insufficient level of development of social and engineering infrastructure.
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
- the possibility of using hydro and wind / solar energy for energy purposes; - improving the coordination, management and reproduction of forest resources; - formation of territories of effective land use; - attraction of investments in mineral exploration; - use of natural resource potential in the development of recreational and tourist sphere.	- overuse and depletion of natural resources, disturbance of reproduction of forest resources; - destruction of natural resources due to natural disasters; - insufficient control over the use of natural resources (unauthorized deforestation, use of quarries, hunting, fishing); - negative demographic trends: depopulation, labour migration; - low investment activity.

Figure 2: SWOT-analysis of tourism development potential in the Carpathians of Lviv Region

Source: compiled by the authors according to SKOLE REGIONAL STATE ADMINISTRATION, 2019

In our opinion, the requirement of systematic assessment of the level of creative activity of the domestic economy is satisfied by the stage of analysis, including:

a) formation of a matrix of baseline indicators and their calculation;

b) assessing the weight of each indicator and normalizing them to produce relevant results;

c) calculation of partial indexes of creative activity (by regional or sectoral characteristics) and the degree of their influence on the economic processes;

d) the calculation of the aggregate index of creative activity at the national level.

During the autumn and winter season 2018-2019 we conducted a micro-sociological survey of tourists (64 persons), local residents of Skole region (38 people, residents of Skole and neighboring settlements) and owners of tourist enterprises (32 persons) regarding their assessment of the level of creativity of the tourist offer. For the study 37 elements of the real tourist offer of Skolivschyna were selected, which are rated on a scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good).

The analysis of the results of the survey showed that almost all respondents are satisfied with the natural prerequisites for recreation, but to one extent or another were not completely satisfied with the specific content of tourist offers, in particular such components as recreation opportunities, sports programs, creative and educational programs for children.

Elements of the tourist offer, such as the presence and quality (curiosity) of the cultural and historical heritage, received the highest ratings of the tourists (4.8). In particular, tourists highly appreciated the opportunity to see the unique rock fortress “Tustan”, which was built in Uritsky rocks in the 9^th century. and today it is the cultural center of the Nature Park “Skole Beskydy”. The fascination with tourists caused the acquaintance with the Palace of Gredelov, which in the early twentieth century, the owners – a family of esteemed entrepreneurs in Skole - arranged magnificent balls for which everyone was invited.

Authentic connoisseurs highly appreciated the opportunity to find out about local cultural and everyday traditions in the museum of Boyko and Lemko national culture on the territory of the complex “Play” during the holiday. The museum located in the Carpathian hut-citizen is surrounded by traditionally carved wooden structures and the exposition contains household items, samples of clothing with typical embroidery, ceramic and wooden utensils, but the special value of having a smithy, cheese factory and water mill. where tourists have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the authentic atmosphere of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The slightly lower ratings of the holidaymakers gave the cultural meaning of the trip (3.8), which indicates the need to develop this creative tourism destination of Skole.

The owners of tourist sites proved to be in solidarity with their guests and also highly appreciated the economic impact of the inclusion of elements of cultural and historical heritage (4.20) in the tourist offer and indirectly evaluated the cultural and educational elements of the tourist product (3.80), then as estimates of residents of tourist destinations were 4.10 and 3.12 respectively. High estimates of cultural and historical values by all groups indicate the possibility of valorisation of these destinations in the tourist offer, while lower estimates of cultural content require a revision of quality and pricing management, which can probably increase the possibility of developing creative proposals in Skolivschyna.

The strategic plan for tourism development in the Skole district does not envisage it as a possible center of creative potential development, focusing on the continuation of work on attracting domestic and foreign investments and the development of new tourist and recreational destinations. In our opinion, there are all necessary prerequisites for the success of creative tourism in the region:

· attractiveness of the destination, determined by its historical, cultural, cultural, architectural features and pronounced authenticity – small settlements that have been preserved since the Middle Ages and developed in time, a variety of cultural monuments;

· the diversity and quality of cultural content, including artistic events, traditional values and other tourism infrastructure;

· tourist interpretation of cultural monuments and routes;

· availability of space and landscape diversity for reproduction of historical, cultural, artistic, cognitive, handicraft and other possible events of creative direction.

Our survey showed that at the level of the owners of the tourist offer in the segment of creative tourism, particular importance is gained:

· interactive content offer (tours of the past, excursions with immersion in authenticity, imitations of knightly tournaments, gastronomic attractions, etc.);

· offer of educational content: from information (with the use of advertising banners, printed flyers) to full amateur tourist (tasting programs, conquering mountain peaks, creative workshops of local crafts). Such a deep dive into the local heritage will help tourists gain a sense of authenticity;

· simultaneous satisfaction of a number of creative and cognitive inquiries: creation of cultural tourist products that meet different customer motivations; such as gaining new knowledge, online entertainment, and more.

The process of creative tourism development in Skolivshchyna, in addition to the high potential of the resource base and the creativity itself, determined by the destination's landscape, should involve the personal creative potential of tourists and owners of tourist offers.

In this connection, within the framework of the survey, we explored such aspects of management as identifying a possible initiator and facilitator of tourism creativization.

32 respondents were included in the survey, who personally formulate Skole district's tourism policy or generate new elements of the tourist offer. The survey was conducted in September-October 2018, when the occupancy of mountain resorts is the lowest due to adverse weather conditions. Last but not least, it was caused by the attempt to direct the opinion of specialists towards the development of creative tourism as a tool for certain leveling of seasonal risks.

All the respondents confirmed the existence of various forms of creative offer (core of antiquity, religious buildings, monuments, concerts, exhibitions and festivals, museums and galleries, authentic customs, etc.) in their own micro-directions of tourist development of Skole region. About 40% of the respondents confirmed that they periodically include some form of creative offer in their own tourist product (noting that the creative offer is intended not only for tourists but also for the local population). Most often, the tourism product includes the following creative suggestions:

· creative workshops: artistic workshops, ceramics, weaving, national embroidery, fine arts, children's and youth creative workshops, culinary classes and festivals, folklore events and more.

· educational programs: traditional alloys of the Carpathian rivers on canoes and boats, tasting local cuisine, traditional fishing, as well as various educational programs for the local population – cooking authentic dishes and more.

· recreational programs: adventure races, historical restorations, hiking on different mountain routes, sports competitions and more.

Regarding the creative share of the tourist offer of the destinations, the average points fully corresponded to the participants' assessments and the ratings provided by tourists of the quality of services in various forms of creative tourism. Creative master classes received an average tourist interest of 2.88 (on a scale of 1-5), educational programs 2.88, and recreational programs showed a slightly higher average score of 3.77. Respondents generally noted that Skolivschyna has a rather high untapped potential for the development of creative tourism.

In addition, practically all the respondents noted the important role of the local population in the issues of quantitative and qualitative growth of creative tourist offer (festivals of authentic Carpathian dishes, traditional rural crafts, cheese making, etc.).

The respondents most often indicated local self-government bodies, tourists, EU funds for the development of territorial communities, private sources of business owners assessing the potential sources of financing for the development of creative tourism in the destination.

However, it should be noted that the majority of respondents did not point to the creative offer as the main motive of tourist demand, but instead they considered it an auxiliary element of tourism, capable of supplementing the off-season offer and thus reducing the critical degree of seasonality of the tourist objects of the Carpathian Skole region. At the same time, some respondents indicated that creative tourism is a seasonally independent tool for creating additional value, that is, an important tourism product, which can significantly affect the income from tourism.

Most of the respondents thought that the creative proposal would be able to create new dimensions of the tourism product in the next two years through the initiation of various development programs and projects. At the same time, the district's strategic development plans (SKOLE REGIONAL STATE ADMINISTRATION, 2019) foresee a very limited amount of planning and implementation of innovative programs over the next two years, and most of them are aimed primarily at social protection of the local population rather than at development of entrepreneurship.

Regarding the creation of image advantages of the tourist business of the region, the majority of respondents emphasized the importance of increasing the number of promotional activities of Skolivschyna, creating profile websites that would allow potential creative tourists to find offers that meet their requirements. The promotion of creative forms of tourism should, according to the respondents, be long-term and include media, thematic seminars, exhibitions and more.

According to the results of the survey, we have compiled a matrix of estimates (Table 4) to find out the creative potential of Skole destination. The selected indicators are adapted to statistical standards (STATE STATISTICS SERVICE OF UKRAINE, 2015), which makes it possible to further compare the result obtained with other mountain regions of Ukraine for rating purposes. For the generalized analysis, we used the average values of each of the indicators by the results of the respondents' response processing.

We use the following formula to calculate the overall creative readiness index of Skole tourist destination:

,

where ОП_і – the estimated value of the indicator, calculated as the arithmetic mean of the average scores on the respondents' answers regarding their view of the values of the partial indicators.

Table 4: Matrix of evaluation indicators for measuring the creative potential index of Skole tourist destination

Estimated rate	Partial indicators	The average score according to the respondents' answers
1. Attractiveness and uniqueness of natural and historical and cultural objects of destination	˗   cognitive and educational value	3.8
	˗    World Heritage Sites listed on the UNESCO List	3.6
	˗     the degree of contrast with the tourist's place of residence	4.8
	˗    Fashion and accessibility to the review	4.8
2. Availability of the natural and historical and cultural potential of the destination	˗    social and economic accessibility	4.6
	˗   financial accessibility	3.7
	˗    information availability	3.2
	˗ infrastructure availability	3.9
3. Quality of the recreational and tourist infrastructure of the destination	˗    placement industry	4.1
	˗    food industry	3.8
	˗    entertainment industry	2.1
	˗    the transportation industry	1.7
4. Resources and conditions of the destination's recreational activity	˗ microclimatic features	4.3
	˗ cultural and historical significance	4.9
	˗ recreational development	2.6
	˗    information component on recreational and tourism resources	3.1
5. Traditions of recreational use of the destination	˗   level of recreational developmen	2.2
	˗ social and cultural transformations of the territory	1.8
	˗    unique directions of development of recreation and tourism in the region	2.8
	˗ tourist and tourism centers	3
6. The perception of the tourist tourist and recreational opportunities of the destination	˗ desire to work in hospitality facilities already created унікальні напрями	2.9
	˗ desire to start a small and micro tourism enterprise	2.5
	˗ desire to build destination infrastructure	1.8
	- desire to develop creative types of tourist offer	3.9

Thus, the results of the elaboration of the opinions of tourists, owners of tourist complexes and residents of Skole district suggest that it is necessary to intensify the development of recreational opportunities of the destination. The Carpathians are one of the most popular holiday destinations for Ukrainian tourists, every year more and more interested in foreign tourists, and the significant natural and climatic advantages and significant historical and cultural heritage of the region create objective prerequisites for the rapid development of modern tourist sites. At the same time, local tourism has many weaknesses, which in most cases do not allow the Ukrainian Carpathian tourism business entities to meet the high competitive standards of the tourist sites located in the Western European Carpathians.

In 2019, the strategic plans for the development of the district are projected to intensify work on improving the quality and increasing the volume of tourist services, increasing the number of tourists, which will help fill the local budget. The purpose of the approved Skole Region Development Program (SKOLE REGIONAL STATE ADMINISTRATION, 2019) is to provide a comprehensive solution to the priority problems of the development of the main tourist centers of the area, to improve the quality and to expand the range of recreational services, which will enhance the competitive tourism and recreational services in the Skole region. Considerable attention has also been paid to the issues of the use and protection of natural recreational resources, the restoration of their potential and the complex development of recreational areas of the area.

The main tasks of development of the tourist sphere of the area are to ensure stable conditions of its functioning, increase of tourist infrastructure, increase of efficiency of use of recreational resources and objects of cultural heritage (Table 5). Increasing the income from the tourism industry will significantly improve the budget of Skole district, which will significantly improve the standard of living of the population and create additional jobs.

The results of our research give reason to recommend that local authorities of Skole district include in the strategic plans the development of creative tourism as a priority direction for the development of the destination.

Table 5: Major tourism development measures in the Skole district (built by SKOLE REGIONAL STATE ADMINISTRATION, 2019)

Priority task	Contents of events	Expected results
Creation of a comprehensive database of tourist infrastructure objects	Monitoring the activity of all tourism enterprises	Improve coordination of placement facilities
Legalize rural tourism establishments and classify agro-villages by level of service provision	Develop a system of measures for the legalization and classification of tourist services	Increasing local budget revenues from tourism entrepreneurship
Ensuring the safety of tourists at the ski resorts of the area	Monitoring of the operation of the facilities included in the list of high risk and condition of ski slopes for the winter season	Reducing the level of injuries at the ski complexes of the area
Determining the level of provision of services to the subjects of tourist activity	Conducting competitions for the best: cuisine, service, agro-lodging, tourist base, etc.	Increasing the level of services provided by the tourist industry
Effective use of the area's recreational resources	Keep up-to-date with the list of recreational attractions in the area	Rational use of recreational resources
Attraction of investments in the tourist industry of the area	Prepare investment proposals (vacant land, unfinished construction)	Development of tourist infrastructure of the area
Presentation, promotion of the tourist and recreational potential of the area	Participation in International tourist exhibitions Booklet production, cartographic print production, souvenir products	Coverage of tourist opportunities, history, culture of the area
Carrying out cultural and mass events in the area	Co-organization of festivals in the area	Promotion of Ukrainian culture
Carrying out of educational events for the subjects of tourist activity	Conducting a training seminar on tourism issues	Improvement of the level of services to the subjects of tourist activity, exchange of experience
Development of hiking tourism in the area	Recognize, streamline and produce signposts for hiking trails in the area Holding open competitions on pedestrian tourism	Increasing the number of tourists, streamlining recreational areas, local education, promoting healthy lifestyles among young people
Exchange of experience in tourism with other areas of Lviv region	Recognize, streamline and produce signposts for hiking trails in the area	Increase of students' practical knowledge, exchange of experience, patriotic education of young people

The expected results of such management decisions should be:

· increase in the number of subjects of tourism business and increase in the number of tourists;

· ensuring growth of revenues to the Consolidated Budget of the area from the activity of tourism entrepreneurship;

· increasing the number and improving the quality of tourism infrastructure;

· promotion of contemporary oriented creative tourist and recreational potential of Skolivschyna on the Ukrainian and foreign markets.

It is no longer enough to mechanically copy the creative achievements of other entities in order to increase competitiveness in the modern tourist market. It is important to focus your efforts on creating your own authentic proposal. All micro-destinations should develop in a coordinated way within the overall strategic vision of the Ukrainian Carpathians tourist complex creation as a competitive and attractive tourist destination of Ukraine (combining partial achievements of micro-destinations to dynamically enhance the overall effect). The quality objectives of tourism in the region can be summarized in two main directions:

· creative tourism offer (including tourism experience and original tourist product offer) based on high quality entertainment industry, introduction of European market trends, with emphasis on authentic values and social and cultural dimension of the destination.

· building a clear identity of the tourist enterprises of the Ukrainian Carpathians, which would synergistically connect all micro-destinations, while emphasizing on the advantages of the offer of individual tourist enterprises, which will allow to position the Ukrainian Carpathians as a prestigious and attractive region in the mind of potential tourists.

Creative tourism is able to outline new dimensions of quality goals by introducing a new tourist offer and creating a recognizable identity of the tourist region that can be achieved by integrating all micro-destination stakeholders and their interests in the overall tourism development vector of the region. The development of creative tourism requires, first and foremost, the creative management of the tourist object, it will direct the development of tourism in the desired direction, using the synergy of all factors of external influence: local government, locals, owners of the hotel and restaurant business, etc. Utilizing all the possibilities of creative tourism, Skolivschyna has the opportunity to create and adequately position its own unique tourism product based on authentic values, reduce the pronounced seasonality of resorts, modernize tourist infrastructure and integrate tourist inactive areas into their creative projects.

New elements of creative proposal of micro-destinations of Skole region are determined by strategic proposal and integration of all proposals at macro level. The ideal way to develop a creative proposal is to create a network of creative offers where each tourist entity builds its own tourism product on its own, authentic and excellent basis. It is important to emphasize cultural resources, especially national and cultural heritage, and integrate these values into the development of creative content. Creating creative programs requires evaluating all aspects of sustainable development.

The human resources management of tourist destinations should be directed towards the promotion of innovative and creative management ideas that would develop the tourism offering in different micro-destinations. It is necessary to improve creative skills by introducing lifelong learning programs, stimulating the development of personal skills and competencies of employees of tourism organizations, so that they are educationally and mentally consistent with the new concept of creative tourism development.

Creative tourism does not require much additional investment, but financial policies must ensure a constant flow of unique creative and cognitive programs and related placement opportunities. It is necessary to attract investors, EU funds and funds from local tourist boards, local governments, private investors and more.

While developing creative destinations, Skolivschyna should achieve real synergy and interaction of all micro-destinations, which should emphasize their uniqueness, as well as actively create an integrated product and unique brand of the area as a center of creative tourism.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The results of the study show that the subjects of the tourist business of Skolivshchyna in Ukraine have little or no awareness of the mechanisms of tourism creation or development of strategies for its renewal. Overall creativity refers to individual programs implemented by individual micro-destinations in the area.

The introduction of a creative proposal is generally considered by stakeholders only as an additional element of the existing proposal, not as an opportunity to develop a selective form of tourism. Skolivschyna can be transformed into a creative tourist center through creative programs, workshops, educational and recreational programs, gastronomy and cheese making festivals, authentic heritage and cultural events.

We recommend creating a network of micro-destinations as a synergy of various individual creative destinations. Creating a creative proposal involves a process that needs to be done on a sustainable basis so that product development does not endanger the quality of life. Creative tourism should be based on a differentiated, innovative and qualitatively different offer, taking into account the needs and needs of modern tourists.

The research and results presented in this paper are only an initial attempt to analyze the need and potential for the development of creative tourism in a separate economic and depressed mountainous territory of Ukraine. Further research should include additional research areas aimed at exploring possible ways to create a tourism offer for the Ukrainian Carpathians.

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