Management of tourism and hotel and restaurant business in Ukraine
Vladyslav Piankov
Postgraduate Student,
Department of Management,
Business and Marketing Technologies,
Faculty of Business and Service,
Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University,
Zhytomyr, Ukraine
vpiankov@ukr.net
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6362-6251
Ilda Kampo
PhD Student
University of Pech Faculty of Sciences,
Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Pécs, Hungary
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6964-1984
Olha Milashovska
Doctor of Economic Sciences,
Head, Department Hospitality and Museum Business,
Mukachevo State University,
Mukachevo, Ukraine
Mila_olga@i.ua
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2381-7534
Tetiana Botsian
PhD in Economics,
Associate Professor,
Department of Economics, Management, Marketing and
Hotel and Restaurant Business,
Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, Zhytomyr, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8423-7424
Valentyna Ivanenko
Ph.D.in Economics,
Associate Professor,
Department of Economics, Management, Marketing and
Hotel and Restaurant Business,
Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University,Zhytomyr, Ukraine
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2231-8485
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to outline the specific features of management strategies for the tourism and hotel and restaurant business in Ukraine in the short term and in the long term. The hospitality sector is highly dependent on the socio-cultural environment in which services are provided. Over the past few years, Ukraine has become an arena of force majeure situations in the economic, legal, and socio-economic dimensions (COVID-19 pandemic, martial law). It is noted that the dynamism of public life directly affects the management activity in the tourism and hotel and restaurant business, updating such guidelines as: management flexibility, management innovation, management pragmatism. The instability of the Ukrainian economic space, which was exacerbated by force majeure, has significantly exacerbated both the institutional and organisational components of hospitality management. Under such force majeure conditions, business strategies are effectively halted, and all economic activity is based on the direct activities of managers and staff of the hospitality industry entity. The algorithm, according to which economic activity is carried out according to predetermined paths, loses its relevance, switching to a manual control mode that responds to external factors and organises work in real-time. The tasks of scientific research can be divided into two aspects: the peculiarities of organising management activities in the hospitality sector in the context of the crisis in Ukraine; prospects for institutional innovations in the management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business. Methodology: The methodological basis for the study was general scientific methods that focus on the synergistic principles of self-organisation, interdisciplinarity, and scientific integration. At the same time, the methods of analysis and modelling that are actively used in scientific research are reinforced by the ideological and mental aspects of pluralism and multiculturalism. It is worth noting that the study focuses on the economic, socio-cultural, and human aspects of managerial activity. The article outlines the problem with statistical analysis, which is not sufficiently informative and holistic (and in some cases, not available at all due to the impossibility of data collection) in describing the quantitative indicators of the management system and the functioning of hospitality industry facilities in general. The scientific novelty of the article is caused by changes in managerial activity in the service sector in Ukraine, which are actually formed online. Therefore, the novelty is mainly operational and practical, accompanied by daily transformations of managerial activity in difficult conditions. The peculiarity of scientific research of the problem of management in the service sector of Ukraine in the modern period is the priority of practicality over theoretical and methodological analysis. Even an analysis of the literature on this issue demonstrates the undeniable dominance of actual everyday realities over management strategies (especially long-term ones). Conclusion: Thus, the uncertainty of the socio-cultural nature generates new principles of organising the management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business, which are mainly situational guidelines. Among the vectors of development of the hospitality and tourism business management system in Ukraine are: adaptability, integration, self-organisation, innovation.
Keywords: tourism management, management of hotel and restaurant business, management strategies, hospitality sector in Ukraine, prospects of hospitality business, innovative management dimensions.
Introduction
If we look at the hospitality business in the context of traditional economic development parameters, the obvious strategic goal is to ensure sustainable development. However, the service sector cluster differs significantly from the manufacturing or financial components of the economic space. The success or profitability of a business depends on many elements. When the tourism or hotel and restaurant segment is covered, attention is immediately focused not only on who provides the services and their specifics (organisational, logistical, production, quantitative, and qualitative) but also on the consumer.
The aim of the study is to highlight the operational and practical manifestations of managerial activity in the tourism and hospitality industry in Ukraine and to identify the prospects for the organisational and institutional development of the management system of this sector of the economy after the stabilisation of the situation in the country.
The objectives of the article are as follows:
The research problem of the article is focused on management guidelines that are relevant in the context of force majeure impact on economic development in the country. The economic component of managerial activity is gaining new management experience, which is focused not on strategic planning, but on the situational organisation of the work of a tourism or hospitality business entity. Under such conditions, the human factor is dominant and allows responding to socio-cultural challenges to the functioning of the industry in general and a particular enterprise in particular.
The focus of the study is on the issue of scientific and economic discourse on the personal qualities and professional competencies of a manager of different levels, who provides the usual current work, alternative activities (using innovative technologies), relocation, evacuation of an enterprise in the tourism or hotel and restaurant industry.
Literature review
The modern scientific and economic discourse has been quite active in studying the problems of management in the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry. In Ukraine, in the pre-war period, there was a kind of boom in the development of the hospitality industry, which led to many studies of the management system in this area. The latest research since the full-scale military aggression is characterised by a variety of quantitative data and analytical results of the management level in the tourism and hospitality industry.
Management plays a crucial role in shaping the organisational culture of the tourism business (Kalnitska, 2018). The work of the manager from the lowest level to the top level is to ensure the integrity and sustainability of the work. Strategic management determines the vectors of development and the scale of the business project. Middle and lower-level management is focused on practice-oriented activities that are directly related to the day-to-day issues that managers deal with. This structure helps to ensure that the distribution of responsibilities and workloads between managers and subordinates is consistent.
Mashika et al. (2021), using the correlation and regression dependence of the number of hospitality consumers and their qualitative characteristics (income level, perception of the essence of recreation, focus on location-based recreation), determine the organisation of work in general and management activity in particular. While top-level management determines development strategies, local management responds to the challenges that arise daily in the course of operations.
Fisun et al. (2022) suggest using SWOT and correlation-regression analysis methodologies to model consumer behaviour or factors of development of the business environment in the service sector. In this way, quantitative indicators of the internal and external environment of the hospitality services sector are formed. Further, using dialectical and methodological algorithms, these quantitative indicators are transformed by management into qualitative characteristics of business projects. For scientific research that focuses on the study of the management system in tourism or hotel and restaurant business, correlation and regression analysis is relevant primarily in highlighting its human component. In the same context, the methodology of balanced indicators (Tahniyath & Elbanna, 2020) is becoming relevant, which provides an analysis of the potential and promising ways of developing the tourism and hotel and restaurant business.
Methodology
General background
The article uses a general scientific methodology, mainly of a rationalistic and analytical nature. The analysis of the reasons and factors that form the problem field for the activities of the management level in the hospitality industry allows to update the vector of development of the scientific and economic discourse on this issue. The study focuses on a comparative analysis, which traces the differences in the work of management during the period of the tourism and hospitality boom in the Ukrainian economy and in times of force majeure (first the COVID-19 pandemic, later a full-scale military invasion). The results of such a comparison make it possible to understand the actual quantitative indicators of losses in the business management system and focus on the qualitative transformations required by management in this area.
The article emphasises that classical general scientific methods are not effective enough in studying the economic problem of management in crisis conditions. The instability and dynamism of changes require new methodological approaches. In particular, the classical forecasting method does not provide adequate results, as data variability affects the reliability of forecasting both general economic indicators and industry-specific clusters. Under such conditions, the development of promising strategies for management systems of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business lacks an informative and analytical basis and becomes inappropriate. The way out of this situation is to use innovative methodologies.
One such innovative methodological approaches from the cluster of forecasting and modelling management problems is the foresight principle (Melnychenko et al., 2020), which combines strategic basic economic indicators, correlating them with variables that directly affect business development. Since the article emphasises the dominance of the situational style of organising management activities, this foresight principle is relevant for highlighting the performance of hospitality industry managers in the context of force majeure instability. The introduction of variable data into the standard algorithms of the management unit ensures an adequate response to the impact of external factors.
The search for new methodological approaches to assessing the performance and prospects of managers of the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry leads to the actualisation of the synergistic principles of pluralism and interdisciplinarity. In particular, Trusova et al. (2020) note the effectiveness of the multiplier effect of regulation. Given the problems associated with collecting information, the interdisciplinary approach allows us to highlight the overall picture of the functioning of the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry and focus on its individual components - in the current study, the problem of management in the hospitality industry.
Data analysis
In general, the methodological arsenal of research in the field of tourism and hotel and restaurant business (in fact, like any other sector of the economy) under force majeure circumstances is constantly varying and changing. The absence of a traditional methodological approach to the problematic components of the chosen topic is due to the lack of a proper database, a sustainable algorithm for collecting information, and the inability to quickly obtain new quantitative indicators (and thus form qualitative elements).
The relevant source for the current study is the statistical and analytical data of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine (2023). This database highlights the general indicators of the tourism industry in Ukraine and the relevant aspects of managerial efficiency.
Results
Crisis management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry in Ukraine
Considering the problems of managing the tourism and hotel and restaurant business in Ukraine today, it is worth noting that the concept of crisis management (Polinkevych & Kamiński, 2020) is relevant for all clusters covered in the current study:
-In the general economic sense, the problem of hospitality management in Ukraine is in a state of crisis due to the actual stoppage of normal economic activity (economic decline in general, logistics disruption, loss of customer base, falling revenues), which negatively affects the efficiency of management work;
In the socio-cultural dimension, the crisis for the management system is manifested in the direct inaccessibility of industry facilities (occupation, loss of property and resources, restrictions on access) and personnel shortages (emigration, mobilisation of managers of various levels);
-In the human context, the crisis covers such aspects of management activities in the hospitality sector as the lack of conditions for sustainable (and even more so for innovative) development and a negative moral and psychological climate.
Before considering the problems of interaction between socio-cultural and human factors in the management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business in Ukraine, it is worth outlining the general state of affairs in the industry. The instability in the tourism sector (and with it the hotel and restaurant business) began in 2020 (with the onset of pandemic-related restrictions) (see Table 1).
Table 3 Number of tourists served in Ukraine in 2015-2020 (thousand people).
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2015 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
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inbound (foreign tourists) |
15 |
39 |
76 |
87 |
12 |
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domestic tourists |
357 |
477 |
457 |
520 |
222 |
Source: Statistical Yearbook of Ukraine for 2020
Indicators show that steady growth until 2020 was followed by a sharp drop in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that the management of the tourism and hospitality industry already had fresh experience in managing the market in a market downturn. Under such conditions, managers already had both theoretical and methodological understanding and practical skills to work in a crisis. A comparative analysis of quantitative indicators of tourism activity indicates two trends for the management cluster of this industry:
* the readiness of the management team to increase or decrease (even rapidly or unpredictably) the number of clients;
* the ability to provide high-quality hospitality services, regardless of quantitative characteristics.
Statistical data indicate that the hospitality industry as a whole (or at least in its pre-war format) will experience a second decline in activity in 2022-23 (see Fig. 3).
Figure 3 Dynamics of tax revenues from the tourism industry in 2023.
Source: (Taxes from the tourism industry for the 1st quarter of 2023, 2023)
In this case, it is worth noting the dominant influence of socio-cultural realities that caused the rapid decline. The author states that it is virtually impossible to compensate for the existing quantitative losses with qualitative indicators of human resources.
Therefore, the main hypothesis of the study, which is being debated in the scientific and economic discourse, is based on the need to use synergistic principles, according to which socio-cultural realities are viewed not only as force majeure difficult circumstances, but also as factors for the transformation and development of the industry. Human resources, especially management, act as an attractor and the main actor for launching processes of self-organisation and interaction.
The modern scientific discourse, using the principles of interdisciplinarity and scientific pluralism, explores the balance of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of economic spheres and processes. The interrelation of human dimensionality and socio-cultural realities in the work of a manager of tourism and hotel and restaurant business is actualised.
Among the controversial problems of the tourism and hospitality industry management are both quantitative indicators in the industry and qualitative characteristics of professional activity. The study proposes a format according to which socio-cultural factors are the source of quantitative variables and the human factor is positioned as a potential resource that is able to solve problems in work in a qualitative way.
The economic factor of the tourism and hospitality industry management system
The management system of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business in Ukraine has its own specifics, which are shaped by the economic characteristics of the national economy, the human resource potential in the cluster of managers, the mental characteristics of the consumer sector, and the socio-cultural conditions in the country. The problematic issues of hospitality industry management in Ukraine are based on several key factors (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1 Management components in the tourism and hospitality industry
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Socio-cultural factor |
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determines the management response to problematic or crisis phenomena in the tourism and hotel and restaurant business |
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Economic factor |
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forms strategic and operational elements of management activity in the hospitality industry |
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Human dimension factor |
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actualises the factors that facilitate or hinder the realisation of the potential of managers of different levels in the hospitality industry |
Source: authors' own development
All these factors affect the activities of the management of the hotel, restaurant, and tourism industry. The fundamental influence is exerted by economic factors. However, the global civilisational development of the modern world is increasingly leading to the growing influence of the socio-cultural and human factor. Management as a cluster of the economy, which is most closely related to the activity (professional or consumer) of a person and society.
In 2022, the first studies on the impact of the hostilities in Ukraine on the trade and services sector appeared, which generally outlined problems in all business aspects, including management (Ponomarenko, 2022). According to an online survey conducted in the study in 2022, some 23% of hospitality businesses in Ukraine were forced to suspend operations, and 54% significantly limited the provision of services (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2 Impact of martial law on the hospitality industry in Ukraine
Source: Zhuravka et al. (2023)
Such indicators are critical for the industry, having effectively transformed the hospitality market. Of course, the management cluster also suffered from the circumstances, both in terms of quantity and quality. Usually, in the case of quantitative losses, the situation can be maintained with the help of the qualitative component, which is achieved by the flexibility and dynamism of management. Kozhukhivska et al. (2022) emphasise the rapid dynamics of innovative development of tourism and hotel and restaurant business.
At the same time, management is a factor whose potential is used to regulate negative externalities. While production capacities are more stable economic elements, human resources are flexible.
One of the factors of hospitality business success is the balance between regulatory intervention and transformational sustainability (Tomej et al., 2023). The study notes that such a balance is theoretically achieved by institutional levers. However, in real business (and even in conditions of instability and variability), these ratios are achieved directly by business leaders and middle and lower managers. This means that management plays a decisive role in the operational activities of the hospitality business, which is a systemic condition for the organisational structure of the enterprise.
Digitalisation is one of the factors that can help to retain hospitality business services in Ukraine and ensure the rapid recovery of lost potential (Baran et al., 2021). The turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries was marked by total technologicalisation in the hospitality and recreational business services sector. At the same time, recent years have demonstrated the actualisation of the information and digital cluster of technologies that have successfully proven to be the engine of industry development. Digitalisation covers all components of economic activity related to tourism and hospitality. The management level is also actively integrated into the digital environment of the hospitality and recreation sector.
Digitalisation offers a lot of innovative solutions for the tourism and hospitality industry. Bodkhe et al. (2019) focus on e-tourism technologies, in which many managerial functions are moving to the digital environment. Today, the so-called smart management, based on digital potential, is developing in developed countries. Digital blockchain technologies streamline and optimise the financial cluster of the hospitality sector (Onder & Gunter, 2022).
On the one hand, this significantly optimises management activities, increasing their efficiency and safety, but on the other hand, such realities pose a threat to the human factor of management, as in such conditions there is a personnel problem (or rather, a lack of demand for jobs in this area, whose functions will be replaced by digital technologies).
A kind of reconciling path for the development of the tourism and hotel industry in the context of digital potential development and the need to preserve jobs is the concept of automation of the industry (Ivanov et al., 2022). This approach involves the active introduction of digital and information technologies, but as a tool (managed by the same managers), and not as an alternative or complete replacement of the usual managerial activity.
Based on the available indicators of the functioning of the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry, guidelines are formed for representatives of all levels of this business. This leads to changes in curricula and practical training of human resources in the management cluster (Beskorovaynaya et al., 2022). It is noted that based on the experience of the Ukrainian tourism and hospitality industry, changes and adjustments are being made to professional training programmes for managers around the world. The Ukrainian experience is unique for the scientific and economic discourse, as it represents the practical work of management under martial law in the new conditions of digitalisation and technologisation.
The essence of the changes is to position the crisis manager as a leader capable of effectively managing a business project in difficult (or even force majeure) socio-cultural and economic conditions. However, the key issue is the availability and use of appropriate tools that allow the manager to achieve flexibility, dynamism, innovation, and pragmatism in the hospitality industry of Ukraine.
The pragmatism of a manager's work is determined by many components. The key to the success of a business project is full compliance with applicable laws and regulations (Oleksenko et al. 2021). In today's turbulent world, in the pursuit of profitability, efficiency, and trendiness, situations of unintentional (or deliberate) violation or non-compliance with the rules of economic activity sometimes arise. In general, legal status is one of the prerequisites for shaping the strategies of future enterprises (Levchenko et al., 2022).
The specificity of managerial work is that the responsibility for compliance with the law falls on managers of different levels (in the tourism or hotel and restaurant business - from the head of the institution to the lowest manager). Considering the problem of management in the hospitality business, the current study emphasises the fundamental role of law-abidingness in the work of managers of different levels and status.
Prospects for management activity in the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry in Ukraine
A promising aspect that requires special attention for the management of tourism and hotel and restaurant business is compliance with environmental standards and requirements. The “green dimension” of the tourism, recreation, and hospitality cluster is increasingly established in the business paradigms of the modern economy (Gryshchenko et al., 2022). Shevchuk (2021) notes the priority of observing the environmental rights of citizens in the context of economic activity. This leads to a corresponding readiness of the staff and management of these industries to understand the principles and practical implementation of environmental policy.
Kyrylov et al. (2022) pointed out the determinants of tourism development through the prism of the regional and social dimensions. Today, the regions of Ukraine are perceived quite differently as an environment for the development of the hospitality industry. The socially oriented clusters of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business have also undergone significant differentiation not due to economic indicators, but due to socio-cultural conditions. Disordered economic characteristics lead to ad hoc management actions rather than coordinated activities.
Such a positioning of the professional dimension of hospitality managers in Ukraine somewhat distorts the standard indicators of professional competencies. Such trends have a negative effect on the further growth of managers in the professional sense. At the same time, negative manifestations of managerial experience in conditions of constant instability or force majeure also have a powerful delayed effect.
The traditional formats of the hospitality industry are being supplemented by new environments that offer new niches for tourism or hotel and restaurant activities. This opens up significant prospects for personnel in this area of economic activity. Mastering managerial work in a completely new environment has positive prospects. In particular, Grynchuk & Romaniuk (2018) note the relevance of green tourism (and other hospitality clusters such as hotels and restaurants) in rural areas. In Ukraine, rural areas have traditionally been considered a centre of peaceful life, decorated with cultural and historical traditions. The task of managers is to skilfully place emphasis on the benefits of green rural tourism to encourage consumers. In the future, it is possible to use standard algorithms for the hospitality business in the new environment.
The regional differentiation of tourism and hotel and restaurant services has always been a relevant issue for scientific and economic discourse (Yemchuk & Arpul, 2020). In Ukraine, there has traditionally always been a division of communities into regions dominated by production facilities and regions dominated by trade and services (southern and western regions) (Matviichuk & Karpiuk, 2021). It is interesting to study the hospitality market in the regions of Ukraine that are relatively safe from active hostilities.
Under these conditions, internal migration has become more relevant, leading to an increase in population (and consumer activity) in some communities. The process of spontaneous formation of the service market is underway, in which elements of confusion are characteristic of both service providers and consumers. In such permanent conditions, business projects with active, proactive, and responsible management become more successful and competitive.
As a rule, the tourism and hospitality services industry has a seasonal and situational nature of its activities. In contrast to the production process or financial activity, the concept of safety margin or long-term deferral of investments is not as widespread and relevant in the tourism and hotel and restaurant business (Sakovska et al., 2023). Managers in this sector are guided by such guidelines, focusing on profitability, efficiency, and profitability in the short-term situational perspective.
Modern management in the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry is faced with an overabundance of information support for this business. Advertising, informational descriptions, warnings, and regulations all form a large-scale flow of information that affects the consumer. Ukpabi et al. (2019) point out the problems of further communication at the level of manager-client or manager-subordinate in the context of implementing the information received. At this level, many problems arise due to the lack of perception of a large amount of information and the inability to reach a common understanding of a particular problem. Information becomes especially important in times of crisis, becoming one of the factors in ensuring the stable operation of the economic environment (Yarmoliuk, 2022). Management uses information not only in its usual form (as advertising or a source of service characteristics) but also as a means of informing (reassuring, assuring) subordinates and consumers.
It should be understood that the scale of the hospitality business has its own peculiarities of responding to crisis processes and phenomena. Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism and food and beverage industry usually do not have strategies for responding to global crises, acting in such conditions mostly on an ad hoc basis (Kukanja et al., 2020). That is, in large corporations in the tourism and hotel, and restaurant industry, crisis response plans are embedded in development strategies and are introduced and controlled by executives and top managers. In smaller businesses, dealing with crisis or force majeure circumstances is more likely to be addressed closer to the beginning or immediately upon the onset of these processes. In general, risk management is becoming a trend in management today (Ming Wut et al., 2021), so this issue is increasingly being included in training programmes.
Andriushchenko et al. (2021) note that the level of competence and professionalism is a defining characteristic of the value of hospitality services. The proper level of professionalism in today's dynamic world can only be achieved through continuous professional development. Under such conditions, the principle of continuous learning is becoming increasingly important.
If these processes are extrapolated to the management cluster, the following picture of self-improvement is obtained (see Fig. 3).
Figure 2 Vectors of self-organisation of the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry manager in force majeure economic realities
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basic level - managers in the tourism and hotel and restaurant cluster are themselves obliged to constantly improve their skills (both general professional and managerial skills) |
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level of development - the management system should control, encourage and ensure the professional development of its subordinates in the context of new requirements and challenges that are relevant in the industry |
Source: authors' own development
As for systemic measures to streamline management activities, it is worth emphasising the introduction of corporate social responsibility, compliance with environmentally, financially, and ethically sustainable behaviour of staff, etc. Adaptability to crisis phenomena is one of the main professional competencies in today's turbulent world.
The study indicates the actualisation of synchronisation of internal adaptability (human dimensional factor) and external adaptability (socio-cultural factor) in the practical activities of tourist and hotel and restaurant facilities in Ukraine. The relationship between a person (manager) and the business environment (socio-cultural influence) should be optimally built on the principles of correlation and synergistic interaction.
Discussion
While the economic component of managerial activity in the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry allows analysing and interpreting the results of the study, the socio-cultural and human aspects are the subject of debate in the modern scientific and economic discourse.
On the one hand, the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry is subject to strong pressure from socio-cultural force majeure factors that affect the socio-economic situation in general. On the other hand, the industry continues to function based not on standard operating algorithms but on a situational model of activity that is shaped by the efforts of managers and employees. At the same time, the organisation of the work of tourism and hotel and restaurant businesses is subject to constant changes and restrictions. For example, the usual for the Ukrainian community cessation of active operations during an air alert requires the manager to implement the algorithm clearly and accurately for compliance with safety standards (both for customers and staff).
An important indicator that affects the organisation of the hospitality sector is the intensity of development of this business cluster (Denysenko & Budiakova, 2020). Managerial activity is special in that it potentially often plays the role of a regulator of the intensity of current business activity directly in the provision of these services. The permanence of the socio-cultural environment in Ukraine (which has significantly intensified with martial law) does not allow for the inclusion of individual positions of tourism or hotel and restaurant activities in planned work projects.
This leads to situational actions and an increase in the organisational and regulatory part of the manager's work. On the one hand, the business project itself does not suffer from such transformations, but for the human characteristics of the management team, this situation is a serious challenge. In order to work in force majeure circumstances, a manager must, in addition to the usual professional competencies, possess an extended list of flexible skills, which include stress resistance, leadership, moral qualities, knowledge of innovative methods, self-organisation, autonomy, etc.
The main problem that scholars outline in the issue of economic activity of management in the context of force majeure or difficult socio-cultural circumstances is working in chaos with the task of preventing this chaos in work. This format of management clearly illustrates the need for orderly activities under any conditions, which is the key task of management.
A manager in the modern hospitality business combines the human competencies of an administrator and a regulator of the information, digital and technological environment. The ability to operate with such elements as: Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, virtual or augmented reality, the analytical potential of Big Data - provides an expansion of opportunities for business activity (Buhalis et al., 2019). Litavniece et al. (2023) emphasise the concept of digital twin technology, according to which the human manager is actively replaced by the digital environment.
All of the innovative tools mentioned in the study that are relevant to the manager have demonstrated their effectiveness under conditions of stability in previous years when the tourism sector in Ukraine experienced a kind of boom (Saienko et al., 2020). It is important for modern economic science to preserve these guidelines and reproduce their relevance during the post-war recovery of tourism in Ukraine.
The use of innovative organisational and institutional elements in a manager's work encourages the manifestation of leadership qualities, initiative, and self-organisation in complex and unpredictable situations. A manager of any level is responsible for decision-making and the ability to self-organise even in the absence of protocols and instructions from higher-level managers.
One of the key factors of external influence on the work of hospitality management is globalisation. International standards for the tourism and hotel and restaurant business are well known and accessible to both managers of this industry and consumers (Povorozniuk et al., 2023). However, modern integration opportunities contribute to the fact that all hospitality industry actors can not only get acquainted with these international standards but also see in practice the specifics of their implementation in other countries. The acquisition of such experience is invaluable for a manager who has gained it directly in the service sector or in the context of advanced training and can operate with these aspects in the course of his or her management activities.
Research on the impact of globalisation on the activities of a manager in the tourism or hospitality industry has many aspects of analysis. However, managerial experience under martial law is a qualitatively new type of research in the modern scientific and economic discourse. The direct use of globalisation achievements (digitalisation, automation, technologicalisation of work) in management work in the mode of doing business in a country where military operations are taking place can be traced. All of these globalisation elements demonstrate effective support for the manager's work and, in some cases, become a major factor in preserving the business or reorienting it.
The COVID-19 pandemic has become perhaps the first global process to affect all sectors of the economy in the 21st century. The hospitality sector has suffered perhaps the most in the context of restrictions related to medical recommendations and requirements (Rutynskyi & Kushniruk, 2020). The management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant sector has faced a situation of a complete knockdown of economic activity. The most interesting for the scientific study of hospitality management is the period of recovery from the crisis. At this time, it is necessary to mobilise all available resources for the prompt and consistent resumption of service provision.
Any business project needs certain guarantees for its development. External factors such as government support and industry standards can serve as such guarantees. At the same time, the concept of safe development of the tourism industry involves the attraction of internal resources, primarily management.
Understanding of security and support from the socio-cultural space (state, community, international community, professional community) is the key to establishing the worldview and mental attitudes of sustainability. A leader is obliged to convey confidence to his or her clients and subordinates. The potential for such confidence can only be gained by understanding the ways to overcome obstacles and the prospects for the development of the industry as a whole.
Trusova et al. (2022), continuing to consider this issue, emphasise the feasibility of the principle of safe innovation development. However, the military threat partially offsets security at the fundamental level in various ways (destruction of attractive cultural and historical sites (Sabadash et al., 2020), business structures, buildings and structures, production facilities). The relocation of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business under such conditions is possible only in the context of the relocation of personnel and human resource ideas and skills.
When focusing on the innovation component, it is obvious that the human dimension is a priority to ensure certain guarantees for business development. In the hospitality sector, innovation is largely implemented through middle and lower management. Therefore, the issue of innovation is closely related to managerial activity.
The socio-cultural dimension of management in the tourism and hotel and restaurant business is also manifested in geopolitical aspects and international relations. Ukrainian business today is facing the challenge of a complete and unalterable transition to the standards of the Western world. Military aggression leaves no chance of maintaining foreign economic relations with the aggressor. For the tourism industry, such a transformation has profound meanings, as it raises the issue of “affinity and hostility in tourist behaviour” (Josiassen et al., 2023). For the tourism business management system, such awareness becomes not just a civic or personal position, but also an integral part of professional competencies.
Modern management is designed to maintain the rhythm of innovative transformations in the hospitality industry. The main trend of today is competitiveness, which in management is realised exclusively through the level of professionalism and the ability to respond to the challenges of time (Sukach et al., 2021). The situation in Ukraine currently allows for only internal competition in the service market, as external influence is significantly limited by socio-cultural factors.
Such realities mean that in the future, the management of the tourism and hotel and restaurant business will have to enter an environment where completely different rules of the game are relevant. Whatever the difficulties of the hospitality industry in Ukraine at the moment, it is worth preparing for the requirements and guidelines of the times.
It is interesting to understand the prospects for the development of tourism and the hotel and restaurant industry to understand the ultimate format of the industry in the globalisation space. This determines the positioning and role of management in this area in general. Gursoy et al. (2022) propose the concept of industry and hospitality development in a single marketing and operating system of the economic meta-universe. Under such conditions, the manager's work will be unified and correlated with clear standards that will apply everywhere, regardless of the economic characteristics of the regions. At the same time, it is worth noting the orientation of the Ukrainian tourism and hotel and restaurant business towards a traditionally regional focus of development (Gavrylenko, 2008). This peculiarity of the Ukrainian tourism and hotel and restaurant business cluster has led to significant losses and made it impossible for management to respond effectively to the crisis.
The current crisis situation in Ukraine is making its own adjustments to the tourism and hotel and restaurant industry. However, as cultural, and historical experience shows, the period of post-crisis and post-war recovery is becoming a stage of opportunities and potential realisation. This will be facilitated by the significant international support for Ukraine from the civilised world, which will be manifested by a significant increase in interest from investors and foreign citizens.
Therefore, even now, the tourism and hotel and restaurant business, being in a difficult crisis situation, is outlining prospects for further development (Sobon et al., 2020). Focusing on international standards of tourism will allow management to always be in the context of advanced changes and innovations, even if they are not available in Ukraine (Kyrylov et al., 2020). After all, at any time, the potential of international management experience can become relevant and in demand in Ukraine.
Conclusion
Management plays a fundamental role in the modern economic paradigm, combining production or service capacities, communication with consumers, and organisational and logistical structures of business. Therefore, the study of management problems in Ukraine in the current conditions of instability and crisis is relevant and in demand in the scientific discourse, manifesting itself in the following aspects:
Limitations
The study was conducted in the context of constant changes in Ukraine related to military operations. The permanence of the situation was related to both the economic crisis and uncertainty, as well as deeper problems (including the territorial aspect of the occupied territories, the relocated hospitality business, and mass migration of management). Therefore, the results of the study mainly outline the problems faced by the tourism and hotel, and restaurant industry in Ukraine in the management cluster.
Currently, it is difficult to characterise the level of management adaptation in tourism and hospitality, as there is no complete statistical information on the quantitative indicators of losses and changes in the management level. As soon as the situation stabilises, all information on managerial activity in force majeure circumstances will become a unique source for the study of scientific and economic discourse.
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