Sustainable Tourism Development in the Ukrainian Carpathians: Adequate Foreign Language Support as a Key to Success

This presentation analyzes attempts at developing sustainable tourism in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The research reveals that the majority of individuals working at tourism establishments have inadequate levels of foreign language proficiency and this lack of proficiency has an important impact on the number of tourists visiting the mountain region. Those institutions with the most success are those which staff employees with the most advanced multilingual skills. The research was conducted by randomly surveying tourism establishments in the above region, including hotels, hostels, private homes and guest houses. A content analysis of their websites also comprises the data set, as it is assumed that many of these tourism establishments book their guests online. The presentation proves that in the Ukrainian Carpathians touristic facilities will remain seriously disadvantaged as long as their staffs possess inadequate foreign language proficiency. Although green tourism has been on the rise in the Ukrainian Carpathians over the past decade, much of that growth has been the result of internal improvements within Ukraine, which has, in turn, allowed more individuals from urban areas to take extended vacations in the countryside. Foreign visitors, as the data suggests, have largely stayed away from the smaller rural villages. If green tourism is to be truly successful in these rural communities, the language proficiency of hospitality staff will need substantial improvement. One remedy might be for universities in Precarpathia to require students in their hospitality degree programs to be fluent in English, since the majority of international tourists now converse in that language during their time abroad. Having adequate knowledge of a second language would certainly provide hospitality workers in the Ukrainian Carpathians with the necessary cultural capital needed to compete in the 21st-century global economy