The Post-Soviet period in the history of tourism development in Russia: cardinal transformations and features of development

Abstract

The object of this study is the history of tourism development in Russia. The subject of the study is the factors and features of the development of Russian tourism in the post–Soviet period (from 1991 to the present). On the basis of documentary and literary sources, the factors and features of tourism development in Russia after the collapse of the unified tourist space of the USSR are characterized. Tourism is considered in the context of socio-economic transformations of post-Soviet society, in the context of changing the geopolitical position of Russia, strengthening the role of cultural and natural heritage as a resource for spatial economic development. The main conclusions of the study are: the main factors of the post-Soviet period of tourism development in Russia were the close attention of business, government, science and education to the field of tourism activity. The main contribution of the authors to the study of the topic: the periodization of the development of Russian tourism of the first thirty years of the post-Soviet era, the characteristics of each of the periods, the identification of the specifics of the use of pre-revolutionary and Soviet cultural heritage in tourism, new cultural objects and traditions of the post-Soviet period. The novelty of the study is to identify the main features and main stages of tourism development in post-Soviet Russia. The main aspects of scientific research in tourism are considered and the contribution of representatives of various sciences is revealed. The role of the import substitution trend in the development of domestic tourism and in the implementation of the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia is shown. The first results of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of Russian tourism are presented. The research is based on historical-genetic, historical-geographical, problem-analytical and retrospective methods, as well as the method of system-structural analysis. It is shown that tourism of the post-Soviet period has become an actively developing branch of the economy, involving various groups of the population in its sphere, contributing to the search for regional brands and new opportunities for using cultural heritage objects in tourism activities.