Financing of tourism and recreation in municipal programs during the pandemic period: the case of Odesa

The threat of rapid spread of COVID-19 infection was felt primarily by residents of big cities and in the economy of resort towns the tourism and recreation sector suffered the most. At the same time, the need for travelling and recreation in conditions of forced isolation and the need for rehabilitation of citizens has not decreased. Accordingly, the municipal authorities should carry out appropriate organizational and financial measures aimed at maintaining the functioning of the domestic market of recreational and tourist services. The study aims to analyze the indicators of financing tourism and recreation within the socio-economic programs of urban development in order to develop recommendations based on the results to improve this funding within the adaptation to the conditions of the pandemic period. This was done by analyzing the development programs of the city of Odesa in Ukraine, the effect of which extends to the pre-pandemic period of 2019, as well as the years of the pandemic 2020–2022. In substantiating the budgeting mechanism within urban development programs built on a systematic approach at the stage of comparative assessment of recreational expectations based on the modified Vroom model one took into account such indicators as: percentage of recreation costs, variability of prices for recreational services, anxiety associated with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. Within the proposed mechanism recommendations are aimed at justifying decisions regarding the variability of funding in urban programs relevant to the development of recreation and tourism, namely, by increasing the funding from the development budget and increasing control over the implementation of these programs, as well as improving the coordination function in order to prepare the ground for the implementation of “4P” and “people-first” models in recreation and tourism at the municipal level. AcknowledgmentThe paper contains the results of research conducted under the National Academy of Science of Ukraine’s grant Formation and Use of Natural-Resource Assets of the Recreational and Tourism Sphere (0120U100159) and the Nominal Scholarship of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Young Scientists-Doctors of Sciences for 2021 (0121U113482).