SKLIARENKO Y. European Union Tourism Policy in the Context of the European Competitive Area Segmentation

The dissertation is devoted to the deepening of theoretical and methodological principles of the study of tourist policy of the European Union in the context of the segmentation of the European competitive area. In the course of the work, the genesis and scientific basis of the country tourism policy are explored and the author proposes the definition of "tourism policy". The theoretical preconditions of the world economy clustering process formation, which corresponds to the formation of the innovation-investment model on national economies are analyzed. There is suggested the general structure of the tourist cluster. In the course of the research, features of 68 tourist clusters functioning in EU countries are analyzed. As a result of clustering, seven clusters of EU countries are distinguished by the level of the tourism industry development. The efficiency of the functioning of the European tourist area is investigated and significant regional differences are identified for the main indicators of economic efficiency. In the course of the research, a factor analysis is conducted to determine the important factors for the development of the tourism industry for each segment (cluster) to further shape the main aspects of tourism policy. On the basis of the generalization of theoretical and methodological principles of the tourism policy implementation study of the countries in the coordinates of the territories competitiveness, the scientific approach to studying the European Union tourist policy in the conditions of the European competitive area segmentation is improved by distinguishing the main stages of the process of the tourism policy development of the separate region within the framework of the EU. According to the results of the research, the organizational and economic principles of tourism policy study in European Union are improved, namely, the mechanism of the EU tourism policy implementation in the context of the European competitive area segmentation is developed, taking into account the specifics and needs of each cluster country, which, based on the clustering of the European tourist area, the objectives of tourism policy, its subjects and directions, as well as the introduction of a set of methods and measures of their realisation for each tourist clusters in EU. According to the results of the research, scientific and practical recommendations for integrating Ukraine into the European tourist area in the context of its segmentation are developed and substantiated by defining the priorities of the development of individual regions and types of tourism in Ukraine and creating favorable conditions for their implementation.