Abstract:
In the article the author reviewed the various definitions of «tourism», identified their advantages
and disadvantages, and divided the approaches into three subcategories: economic, technical and
holistic. Considerable attention is given to the review of opportunities for further development of
the tourism industry, considered its contribution to the sustainability of the national economy. In the
article it is argued that development depends on both external and internal factors, among which the
most important are political and economic stability, mechanisms of state and regional governance.
Based on various, already existing approaches the transformation of approaches to the definition of
«tourism» in the socio-economic context are explained.
