Nostalgic Tourism Management Based on German Settlements in Southern Ukraine

Abstract

The prospects for the formation and development of nostalgic tourism in Ukraine as a direction of the future intensification of inbound and domestic tourist flows are assessed in the article. The study of the possibilities of diversification and further changes in the structure of tourism in Ukraine is particularly relevant in connection with the events currently taking place. The presence of numerous homogeneous resources, remained from a sufficiently long stay of the German population on Ukrainian territory, provides an opportunity to form an innovative tourist product on this base. Special attention in the article is paid to the southern regions of the country, in particular, the Mykolaiv region, where an inventory of heritage resources was recently conducted for the development of creative tourism. On the site of German settlements, the establishment of which began in the south of Ukraine from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century, there are historical and architectural monuments in the form of churches, farm buildings, gymnasiums, and residential buildings. There are many resources preserved with maps of German settlements, registers of archival cases, geographic indexes of places and lists of citizens of German nationality who once lived in the territory of Southern Ukraine. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to analyze the possibilities of intensification of inbound nostalgic tourism in the southern regions of the country, in particular, the Mykolaiv region. The article analyzes the number and distribution of descendants of German immigrants, which can serve as a basis for determining the most attractive destinations for nostalgic tourism. Analysis of the dynamics of the inbound tourist flow from Germany to Ukraine in 2014-2018 allowed us to estimate the average annual growth of 28,175 persons. To predict the number of German tourists, the linear regression method was used, which showed a trend of sustainable growth and allowed us to conclude that nostalgic tourism is promising for tourists from Germany. It should be noted that this growth occurred despite military operations on the territory of the country. Therefore, the development and implementation of nostalgic tours and excursions, including visits to the places of former settlements in southern Ukraine, seems appropriate. At the same time, the research revealed a sufficient number of resources (documents, lists of residents of certain settlements, places from which immigrants came), which should be used in the future for the practical formation of targeted tourist offers.