CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEALTH-IMPROVING TOURISM

Abstract

The article highlights approaches to the development of health-improving tourism. The purpose of the article is to investigate medical and health tourism in Ukraine and to identify the preconditions for forming measures for further development. The subject-matter of the study is the theoretical and practical aspects of the development of health and wellness tourism in the country. In the course of the study, the following methods are used: dialectical, logical, and system approaches – to identify patterns and factors of development of health-improving tourism, graphical analysis – for the schematic representation of the generalized theoretical and practical results of the study, logical generalization of the results – to substantiate the main approaches to the development of health-improving tourism in the country. A healthy nation is a key to a successful country, therefore, studying the conceptual issues of ensuring and implementing methods of medical and recreational activities among the population is very relevant. Among the main methods of health-improving activities of people is tourism. An analysis is made among the main development indicators of health-improving tourism, where: during the study period, there was an increase in the number of subjects of tourist activities, including travel agents and subjects carrying out excursions, but negative is the reduction of tour operators; increase in the number of employed; increase in the number of tourists served by tourist enterprises; the average annual increase in the number of tourists, tourists traveling abroad, tourists within Ukraine. The number of places in the health-improving tourism establishments has decreased, while the servicing of visitors, on the contrary, has increased. Positive is the increase in the arrival of foreigners. There is justified the establishment of the central fund for the promotion of health-improving tourism development in order to increase the efficiency of state regulation, stimulate innovation-investment processes in health-improving tourism, which in turn will ensure an increase in the quality and standard of living of the population, which will lead to the sustainability of the socio-economic development of the state. The main goals and tasks of the central fund for the development of health-improving tourism are defined; directions of its activity and sources of financing are outlined. The work of the fund will enable intensifying tourist and sports activities in the country and increasing the efficiency of medicalrecreational processes of the population in the current conditions of integration.