Abstract
In 1999, Lake Baikal was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. To implement the requirements of the international status of the lake in Russia, a number of legislative acts have been adopted that significantly changed the socio-economic living conditions of the local population in the Baikal Natural Area (BNA): numerous types of zoning have been introduced, limiting the possibilities of conducting the economic activities, and a stake has been placed on the development of the tourism.The aim of the article is to assess the impact of tourism over the life of the BNA from the perspective of the theory of sustainable development. In the paper: 1) modern socio-economic living conditions of the population over the BNA were analyzed; 2) an economic analysis of the existing tourist flows were conducted; 3) areas of conflict of interests of the tourist business, local population, authorities of different levels and investors were identified. The results presented in the article are based on the field studies conducted in the summer of 2018 in a number of regions of Buryatia (15 interviews were taken with tourism leaders, heads of settlements, eco-activists and local residents and 45 interviews with tourists). It is shown that the policy of limiting the economic activity in the BNA and the stake on mass tourism lead to the degradation of the Baikal nature and do not solve the problems of the financial self-sufficiency of the territory.
Highlights
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world
Most Russian tourists come to Lake Baikal for personal reasons (84% come on vacation, 10% - for treatment, 1.1% - on pilgrimage tours), business and professional trips make up 16.2% of all visits to Buryatia
According to the municipal leaders, the local population is ready to live on the shores of Lake Baikal, due to the introduced environmental restrictions, the main problem of the population is the impossibility of building, due to the fact that a significant part of the Baikal Natural Area (BNA) is the lands of the State Forest Fund of Russia
Summary
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. In 1999, the UNESCO Convention "On the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" included Lake Baikal in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which imposed certain obligations on the Russian Federation to preserve the lake. From the point of view of the development of the Baikal Natural Area (BNA), the authorities have relied on tourism. This has led to an increase in the flow of Russian and foreign tourists. Mass tourism has exacerbated the degradation of the fragile ecosystems of Lake Baikal, but has not led to an increase in the living standards of the local population. The following tasks have been solved in the paper: 1) modern socio-economic living conditions of the population over the BNA were analyzed; 2) an economic analysis of the existing tourist flows were conducted; 3) areas of conflict of interests of the tourist business, local population, authorities of different levels and investors were identified. The results presented in this article were based on the field studies carried out from July 11 to 17, 2018 in Ulan-Ude, in the Baikal, Barguzinsky, Tarbagataisky districts of Buryatia, as well as on Olkhon Island
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