Cooperation between travel agencies and tour operators in the organisation of heritage and cultural tourism trips in the European Union countries

This study aimed to develop a cluster-based structure of the tourism market and to identify trends in the development of the tourism sector by assessing the productivity of travel agencies and tour operators in the European Union and Ukraine in the context of organising international and domestic heritage and cultural tourism trips. The analysis employed a range of methods, including cluster analysis, statistical techniques, data standardisation, a matrix-based approach, and comparative analysis. To evaluate the productivity of tourism enterprises, the following indicators were calculated: value added per enterprise, turnover per enterprise, value added per employee, and turnover per employee. The application of hierarchical clustering enabled the classification of countries into three groups based on the productivity levels of travel agencies and tour operators: high, medium, and low. Ukraine was placed in the group with low productivity for both travel agencies and tour operators. The findings revealed that most EU countries demonstrate stable productivity in both categories of tourism enterprises, indicating a consistent level of tourism market development. However, some countries exhibit discrepancies between the productivity levels of travel agencies and tour operators. These differences can be attributed to specific market conditions, business strategies, and the underlying economic model of tourism. To determine whether travel agencies and tour operators are primarily focused on organising domestic or international tourism trips, and to evaluate their effectiveness in these areas, an indicator reflecting the ratio of organised domestic to international tourism trips is proposed. Using a matrix approach, which cross-references the productivity level of tourism enterprises with the direction of tourism flows, EU countries were clustered according to similarities in their performance in organising heritage and cultural tourism trips. The results of the grouping suggest that domestic tourism is a key factor contributing to the high productivity of tourism enterprises in leading EU countries. The findings may inform the development of strategies aimed at improving the efficiency of tourism enterprises, including through optimising business models, attracting international tourists, and enhancing the organisation of domestic tourism trips