Karpaty Ukraińskie jako region turystyczny - uwarunkowania i możliwości rozwoju

Tourist attractiveness of the Ukrainian Carpathians follows their position at the crossroads of central Europe's trade routes, abundance of environmental and cultural assets, as well as the constantly growing rate of investments in the tourist sector. The uniqueness of the region's tourist assets, which underlie the development of the region's holiday and health-resort functions, is the effect of varied natural environment and rich historical and cultural heritage. Statistic data show that the number of tourists visiting the Ukrainian Carpathians in the period from 2005 to 2009 amounted to approximately 1.7 million per year, including 150,000 foreign visitors. The development of tourism is currently considered to be one of the major factors contributing to the socio-economic growth of the entire region. This has been reflected, among others, in the formulation of the strategic objective for the development of the Ukrainian Carpathians, which is understood as actions that aim at achieving financial prosperity of the inhabitants of the region and the preservation of its environmental assets; the objective is to be accomplished through the formulation of efficient territorial tourist system based on the optimal exploitation of the existing tourist assets, material and technical resources of the region, its economic resources and human potential. Tourist assets of the Ukrainian Carpathians make various forms of tourism possible to practice. The forms of tourism that are most prominent in the tourism structure are hiking and trekking, ski tourism, water tourism, cave tourism and rural tourism. Main tourist mountain trails of the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians lead through the highest areas of the mountains, within the massifs of Chornohora, Svydovets and Gorgany. These trails offer such tourist attractions as alpine lakes, original Hutsul culture, unique flora and fauna as well as numerous festivals whose organization is supported by local communities, regional institutions and international foundations. There are a number of ski resorts in the Ukrainian Carpathians, the highest-ranking of which are: Bukovel, Slavske, Dragobrat, Pylypec-Podobovec and Izky, the most prominent is Bukovel. The development of this ski resort was initiated in 2001. Due to large-scale investments made in the following 9 years, it has become one of the most modern resorts of this type in Eastern Europe. Currently, there are 16 ski lifts operating in Bukovel, as well as over 60 kilometres of skiing routes supported by complex tourist infrastructure. Another activity that enjoys popularity in the Carpathian Region is river rafting, organized along the Prut, Dniester, Cheremosh and Black Cisa rivers. Cave tourism is widespread in the mountainous part of the Zakarpattia Oblast, where over 50 caves are explored. The largest and longest Carpathian cave is the Friendship Cave in Romania, whose passages are nearly 1 kilometre long in total. The Ukrainian Carpathians also offer favourable conditions for the development of rural tourism. According to optimistic prognoses, agricultural tourism in the Carpathian Region is likely to become a major services market concentrating approximately 35-45% of total tourist flow in the region. Still, rural population needs considerable support from the state, local authorities and other institutions regarding fund raising, employment support programs, counselling, organization of services or distribution of information and marketing. The development of tourism in the Carpathian Region is a priority. For the Ukrainian Carpathians to be transformed into efficiently organized tourist region, the following actions should be undertaken: numerous investment activities in the tourist sector in its broad understanding; the settlement of legal and ownership issues regarding the provision of tourist services; the routing and rendering accessible of successive mountain hiking trails; and the implementation of projects aiming at renovation and maintenance of many objects of historic value