Guliamova G. K., Bezugly V. V., Tsvetayeva O. V.

Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University

TRENDS IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Traditionally, Europe is the region of the largest tourist attraction. This is supported by the high level of economic development of most countries, income and its social structure (dominance of the middle class), which can realize the need to rest outside their home countries. The characteristic feature of the EU is that a common internal migration, stimulated visa-free travel to Schengen countries are wide-spread, and transport system is well-developed.

The dwellers of Europe in 2013 carried more than 1 million journeys. Short trips (1 to 3 nights) account for more than half (54 %) of all EU citizens travel, while about three-quarters of them were domestic travel direction (within your country), while 24 % of trips were made abroad.

Residents of certain Member States (Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland) more than half of their vacations spend abroad, while the residents ofSpain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria spend only 10 % of the holiday abroad. This is influenced by such factors as the size of the Member State, its geographical location (the smaller country is and the northerner of it location, the higher is the tourist activity of inhabitants).

As for the number of arrivals, in the first half of 2013 the activity of domestic tourism in all directions was decreased. Particularly sharp decline was observed in Latvia andLithuania. Only in Slovenia, Austria and Malta was some revival in domestic tourism.

With regard to international (inbound) tourism, the number of visits to EU foreign tourists (non-residents) was also significantly decreased. Tourists traveling activity toGreece and Slovakia felt down to more than 20 % and in the other countries the reduction ranged from 8 to 18 %. The main reason for decline in tourist activity is the impact of the economic crisis. The relatively high resistance to the crisis demonstrated only Austria and Sweden, where the decline in foreign tourist flow was less than 5 %.

The economic importance of tourism can be measured by the ratio of international tourism according to GDP. In 2012, this ratio was the highest in Malta (10.2 %) and Cyprus (9.2 %), confirming the importance of tourism in these island states. Maximum was observed in Croatia (15.7 %). The absolute maximum respect of international tourism receipts were recorded in Spain (3,812 million) and France (3,492 million euros), followed by Italy, Germany and the UK.

In the analysis of these costs in relation to the population in the country, it was demonstrated that the absolute leaders are the residents of Luxembourg, who spent 5254 euros per person for a trip abroad in 2012, in Ireland – 1,413 euros per person, followed by Belgium, Denmark and Cyprus. These five countries were the leaders for the duration of exit international trips (four nights or more) of the total number of tourist trips.

Ranging EU states according to frequency of visiting tourists, the EU countries were divided into 3 groups: countries with high tourist activity (number of tourists exceeds 2,000 persons per thousand inhabitants of the country) – Malta, Cyprus, Austria, Croatia; the countries with the average tourist activity (1000–2000 tourists per 1,000 inhabitants), Ireland, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Luxembourg, France, Spain and the low tourist activity (100–1000 person/1000 inhabitants) – the rest of the country.

The country-leader according to the number of arrivals of tourists is France (76.8 million tourists), which specializes in all kinds of tourism: from the resort to the business, but historical and cultural are dominant. According to the number of nights spent by tourists in the country, the leader is Spain (2.4 million nights). This can be explained by the fact that Spain is mainly specialized in holiday resort.

In general, it should be noted that the EU gaining popularity of small island states, which satisfy the needs of a resort getaway. Leaders in the historical-cultural and business tourism are Western Europe, Southern Europe is a region of traditional wellness and spa holidays.