Ensuring Sustainable Development of Tourism in the Regions of Ukraine in the Context of Smart Specialization Strategy

In the current conditions of decentralization, Ukraine’s integration into the European space, and increased regional competition, ensuring sustainable tourism development as one of the drivers of economic growth in regions becomes particularly significant. In the context of implementing smart specialization strategies (S3), tourism can act as a tool for economic diversification, preserving local identity, and attracting innovations. The aim of the article is to examine the opportunities for integrating the tourism sector into regional development strategies based on smart specialization, emphasizing sustainable development, taking into account the resource potential of the regions, stakeholder demands, and European approaches to strategizing. The study uses methods of content analysis of regional development strategies for the period 2021–2027, comparative analysis, systematic approach, and the method of generalization to identify priorities and challenges in the implementation of smart specialization in the tourism sector. The analysis showed that only five regions of Ukraine (Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kherson, Chernivtsi) recognized tourism as a priority direction of smart specialization. It was found that the main barriers include a fragmented vision of tourism in regional strategies, insufficient stakeholder engagement, and the lack of mechanisms for the practical implementation of tourism initiatives. The possibilities for diversifying tourism services, taking into account the narrow specialization of territories, were explored, which allows for more efficient use of existing natural, historical-cultural, and human resources. The substantiation for defining tourism as a priority direction in smart specialization strategies is based on its multiplicative effect, its ability to stimulate the development of related sectors of the economy, and to create new jobs. A model of interaction among key stakeholders (government, business, public, research institutions) in the process of developing sustainable tourism strategies is proposed, which is based on the principle of «bottom-up» and aimed at forming effective tourism policy at the local level. The results of the study can be used in updating or developing strategic documents, as well as serving as a basis for forming policies to support sustainable tourism within the terms of smart specialization.