Forecasting the Development of Tourism and Catering Business in Ukraine and Poland

The purpose of writing the article is to study and forecast the tendencies of the tourism and the catering business of Ukraine and Poland. Based on the quantitative indicators of the number of tourists served, catering facilities and collective accommodation facilities, a dynamic analysis of the hospitality sphere of both countries is carried out, including tourism, catering and the complementary hotel business. As a result of the study, trends in the functioning of the hospitality industries are defined, forecasts of their further development are elaborated and interpreted. It is determined that in terms of dynamics of the tourist flow, the number and density of the network of catering facilities, Ukraine is inferior to Poland, and the development of tourism and catering business in Poland, unlike Ukraine, is balanced and progressive. The same tendencies are projected to continue in the future. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the factors that determine the functioning of the researched industries and the determinants of development of the catering business. Differences in the rates of income growth and purchasing power of the population, out-of-home catering costs and the share of the catering market in both countries are identified. The hotel infrastructure of the researched countries in comparison with the EU countries are analyzed and forecasted. A small share of the collective means of accommodation of both countries in the European Union and the possibility of increasing it for Poland are determined. The study provides grounds to assume that for the domestic hospitality sector is difficult to compete with the Polish, which in terms of volume and growth rates is developing more dynamically. Prospects for further research in this direction are the study of management mechanisms and the development of effective management solutions with a focus on Ukrainian uniqueness.