Clusterization in Tourism Development Level's Assessment of Regions: Example of Ukraine

Tourism development is uneven, which is related to the level of socio-economic development of territories, peculiarities of historical and cultural processes, resource provision, etc., which determines the need to study the structure of the tourist market based on spatial polarization based on statistical methods. The study aims to identify disparities in tourism development in Ukraine's regions and to group them according to indicators that characterize tourism's development level. To solve the problem, the authors used a modified cluster analysis method. The article presents the author's approach, which, unlike the existing ones, allows taking into account clarifying weighting factors and corrective penalty functions for each indicator to minimize probabilistic influences when determining the distance between objects. The uneven development of the tourism sector in the regions of Ukraine was revealed. As a result, six clusters were distinguished based on indicators of tourism development in the regions of Ukraine as of 2020, and the peculiarities within each cluster were found. State authorities can use the research results to ensure the comprehensive development of territories by forming effective regional tourism strategies and promoting the development of the most promising tourism destinations and products.