Post-War Tourism in Ukraine: Should We Go Dark or Phoenix?

Abstract

The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Now there are active hostilities, but despite this, the government of Ukraine is already thinking ahead by creating various recovery funds for restoration in the post-war period. This article examines the tourism sector and how it can be adjusted to post-war realities. Moreover, planning in this area is viewed through the prism of city marketing, which is characterised by a clear segmentation of the audience, analysis of the resources available and a study of the target audiences’ needs. This work answers the following question: what are the main tasks of post-war tourism in the framework of city marketing after the war in Ukrainian cities considering visiting motives of the potential tourists? In the process of analysing international and domestic tourism experience in post-conflict and post-disaster territories, we can argue that it is necessary to determine the concept of a touristic campaign (the author recommends the Phoenix Tourism concept), attract volunteers, maintain communication through telegram channels, conserve war-damaged buildings as a touristic site, conduct guides training with an emphasis on their mentor functions, etc. At the end of the article, the author raises questions in the field of post-war city marketing that require further attention from researchers.