Priorities for Development of Cultural tourism in Ukraine

The purpose of the study is to identify priorities for the development of cultural tourism in Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the general scientific and structural-functional methods. This allowed the authors to identify the functions of tourism that determine its features as a socio-cultural institution, to define in the object of study an integral system of its structural elements, factors of transformation processes, and links between them. Scientific novelty. The study of the current state and prospects for the development of cultural tourism in Ukraine has provided an opportunity to supplement its classification, and to identify a type of cultural and symbolic tourism. For the first time, cultural and symbolic tourism is considered through the prism of wartime. Cultural and symbolic tourism involves the arrangement of trips and excursions to cultural and historical sites and destinations, where a person can feel that they belong to the cultural and historical code of the country, immersing themselves in the world of images, symbols, signs that have come down to us from the distant and/or recent past and are valuable for the present and future. Conclusions. Cultural tourism in Ukraine allows people to experience the cultural diversity, cultural values, and traditions of Ukraine. Through cultural tourism, it is possible to preserve cultural heritage and develop infrastructure at the regional and local levels. The new perception by Ukrainians of their own cultural and historical heritage in the conditions of the war with the Russian Federation prompted the authors to study the types of cultural tourism in more detail and to identify a new type – cultural and symbolic tourism. Cultural tourism plays an important role in satisfying human intellectual needs, physiological and psychological recovery. Based on the analysis of the current situation in the country, the article identifies priorities for the development of cultural tourism in Ukraine, which include: compliance with increased security requirements for organising cultural recreation, rethinking the significance of cultural monuments from different historical periods of Ukraine's development and their relationship with the future. Key words: cultural tourism, destination, history, cultural heritage.