Event tourism is an important component of contemporary destination development because planned events can attract visitors, extend destination visibility, stimulate hospitality and service activity, reinforce local identity, and support place branding. At the same time, event-led development can create short-lived demand peaks, infrastructure pressure, environmental burdens, price increases, and uneven distribution of benefits. These opportunities and constraints are particularly relevant to Ukraine, where the tourism sector has operated under the severe conditions created by Russia’s full-scale invasion and where post-war recovery will require regionally differentiated strategies. This study examines how festivals and other planned events can contribute to regional tourism and economic development in Ukraine and proposes a structured approach to event-tourism development for the recovery period. The research uses a qualitative and descriptive-analytical design combining literature review, classification, comparative synthesis, secondary statistical analysis, and interpretation of publicly available Ukrainian tourism indicators. Regional tax-revenue data, accommodation statistics, Ukrainian case studies, and international event-tourism research are considered together. The results show that tourism activity has demonstrated substantial regional resilience despite wartime disruption, although recovery is spatially uneven and should not be interpreted as a return to pre-war conditions. Event tourism can support destination recognition, visitor expenditure, small-business activity, cultural revitalization, and infrastructure development, but its contribution depends on professional event management, security, accessibility, stakeholder coordination, environmental capacity, and continuity between individual events. Festivals are especially relevant because they can combine cultural heritage, creative industries, gastronomy, performance, community participation, and destination branding. The study proposes an event-development sequence based on strategic positioning, stakeholder coordination, fundraising, event packaging, complementary visitor experiences, destination branding, local creative participation, and an integrated regional events calendar. The findings support the use of event tourism as one component of regional recovery rather than as a stand-alone economic remedy.
