The study is devoted to analyzing the recreational and tourist potential for forming the recreation complex of the Middle Pridniprovia region, as well as identifying problems and prospects for its further development. The theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of the regional recreational complex on the example of the Middle Pridniprovia are consistently covered in the dissertation, simultaneously, was formed and clarified the conceptual and terminological apparatus for the socio-geographical study of the recreational tourist potential of the regional recreational complexes. Furthermore the hierarchical system of taxonomic units of the territorial organization and zoning of the recreational region was substantiated. Existing approaches to determining the nature of recreational resources were analyzed. The basic criteria for classification of recreational resources was determined. The basic characteristics and properties of recreational resources including directions of their usage in the organization of recreational activities were considered in the study. The analysis has been conducted on the spatial distribution of natural, anthropogenic, and socio-economic resources, along with the necessary conditions for the establishment and operation of a regional recreational complex. The distinctive features of the contemporary territorial organization of the recreational complex, characterized as an organized hierarchical system, are identified. Additionally, a scheme for the recreational zoning of the Middle Pridniprovia region is devised, incorporating the following hierarchical levels: region – district – zone – cluster – center – point – institution. Based on the research into the recreational and touristic potential of the Middle Pridniprovia region, it was determined that there are three main 7 recreational districts. Within these areas, nine recreational zones as lower-level territorialhierarchical units have been identified, comprising 30 recreational cluster, 31 recreational centers, 97 recreational points, and 493 recreational institutions. Proposals for optimizing the spatial organization, functional arrangements, and management structure are outlined, leveraging the cluster model for the organization of the recreational economy in the Middle Pridniprovia region. The prospects for further development of excursioncognitive, event-based, ecological, sports and recreational, religious, rural, and ethnographic tourism are determined as crucial for the contemporary specialization of the region's recreational industry and its individual recreational areas and zones. Additionally, proposals for diversification are presented through more active engagement of additional components of the recreational-tourist potential, which have been underutilized, such as resources for sanatorium and resort treatment or emerging innovative resources, including thematic parks, private mini-zoos, ostrich farms, and more. To address the main objectives of the research, a combination of general scientific methods (analytical, comparative, historical, and literary) and specialized geographical methods (historical-geographical, comparative-geographical, cartographic, zoning) was used. Throughout the dissertation, data and statistics from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, statistical yearbooks, and informational resources from the Main Directorates of Statistics in the Kirovograd and Cherkasy regions, as well as governmental bodies including the Kirovograd and Cherkasy oblast state administrations, district state administrations, and their specialized departments in the fields of culture, tourism, transport, and infrastructure were employed. Additionally, materials such as "Strategies for the development of tourism and resorts for the period up to 2026" and other pertinent legal documents, scientific literature, and cartographic sources were incorporated. The scientific findings derived from the dissertation research serve as a theoretical, methodological, informational-analytical, and practical foundation for rationalizing the territorial organization and fostering the balanced development of the recreational complex in the Middle Pridniprovia. These results afford an opportunity to assess the region's recreational and tourism potential comprehensively and to pinpoint 8 measures directed towards shaping a tourist-attractive recreational complex within the region. Scientific novelty of the obtained results: for the first time: - a comprehensive socio-geographical assessment of the recreational and tourism potential of the Middle Pridniprovia region was conducted, enabling the determination of prospects for the development of the regional recreation complex; - Thematic mapping schemes have been developed, which reflect the quantitative and qualitative parameters of recreational resources, as well as depict the territorial variations in their typology and reserves.
