Innovations in the market of tourist services as an instrument of formation of the image of the destination

Abstract

The strategic goal of tourism development in Ukraine is to create a product that is competitive on the world market, able to satisfy the tourist needs of the population of the country as much as possible, to ensure on this basis the complex development of the territories and their socio-economic interests while preserving the economic balance and historical and cultural identity. Our study’s objective was to interpolate the task data to the regional context. In fact, domestic tourism (about 80% of the tourist flow) is one of the trends of tourism development in Ukraine today. According to the Main Department of Statistics in Lviv region, the most visited tourist destinations in this region are the cities of Lviv and Truskavets, which, of course, related with existing there tourist and recreational potential and own brand on the market of tourist services of Ukraine. However, there is a disproportion of the development of the tourism industry within the Lviv region. Such centers as Drohobych, Sambir, Stryi should become important determinants of the tourist face of Lviv region. The research of the tourist identics of the city of Stryi, promotion of its tourist potential is the main aim of our research. The article is devoted to research of regional market of excursion services on the example of town of Stryi. The focus of attention is directed on innovative excursion products as the main drivers of popularization of tourist destination and intensification of domestic tourism. Stryj has a special historical and cultural heritage for the formation of excursion services and their promotion on the domestic market. Among the tourist attractions are allocated: The memorial complex «To fighters for freedom of Ukraine», the museum of Petro Obal, Museum of regional ethnography «Verkhovyna», the Banderas' family museum, the synagogue, the former gymnasium, where Filaret Kolessa and Stepan Bandera have studied, the room-museum of ethnographer and the collector of Olha Bachynska, the city house of culture, the memorial-sculpture complex «Buditeli» (the only monument in Ukraine to three Ukrainian writers Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko). There are about 15 tour offices in the town, which offer visitors an overview and thematic excursions. Among them are: «Running around», «The Edge of Blue Fire», «The Tour from Eugene Tychenko», «The Trip to the Stryi Market». The most popular thematic excursion is the route «Stryi sacral buildings». Analysis of the market of excursion services in Stryi revealed the absence of innovative products such as costume excursions, quest-tours, interactive excursions, etc. Therefore, for the purpose of diversification of excursion products within the town, positioning it as a cultural and recognizable center of Western Ukraine, the purpose of our research was to develop the author's quest-excursion «Striyko will spread…». In the future it can take its niche in the market of excursion services of the town, expand the tourist product of destination, become one of the tools of formation of image of the territory. Before the development of the author’s quest-tour, a marketing survey was conducted according to the Net Promoter Score (NPS) method concerning the attractiveness of tourist objects and a calculated loyalty index, which allowed to draw a circle of tourist attractions in Stryi, which would be interesting for potential consumers of the given excursion product. That is, the selection of display objects was not random, but scientifically based. At present, the town of Stryi hasn't its own tourist brand, which would allow to identify it among dicker of tourist centers of the western region. Thus, we have proposed a system of measures to promote the tourist potential of the investigated destiation. Keywords: innovations, tourist destination, territory image, Net Promoter Score method, quest-excursion.