Basic concepts and definitions of sports tourism, especially its organization

Sport tourism is an independent and socially-oriented sphere, a way of life of a significant stratum of society; an effective means of spiritual and physical development of the individual, fostering respect for nature, mutual understanding and mutual respect between nations and nations; a form of “public diplomacy” based on a real acquaintance with the life, history, culture, customs of nations, the most democratic type of recreation, characterized by a specific form of folk art, free choice of the form of personal activity of all sociodemographic groups of the population, from preschool children to pensioners.

Sports tourism is the preparation and conduct of sports travel in order to overcome the extended expanse of wildlife on skis (ski tourism), by means of rafting (water tourism) or on foot in the mountains (mountain tourism). Sports travel is conducted by an autonomous group of 6-10 people. It happens that travelers within a month do not meet any traces of civilization. To pass the route you need to be not only strong, dexterous, courageous and stubborn, but also possess a wide range of special knowledge from the technique of overcoming obstacles to human physiology in extreme conditions. Unlike regular travel, sports travel includes a set of natural obstacles classified by difficulty. As a rule, in mountain and ski tourism such obstacles are mountain peaks and passes, and in water tourism - rapids. Classified obstacles form the basis of the travel comparison methodology for their complexity. This is similar to assessing the complexity of gymnastics or figure skating programs.

The organization and conduct of sports travel are subject to the Rules, which are approved by the Tourist and Sports Union. These Rules accumulate the experience of many generations of travelers. Therefore, when they are executed, the level of security achieved in sports tourism is guaranteed. It is controlled by the route qualification commissions system. In particular, the route qualification commission checks the group's preparedness for entering the route and the relevance of the travel participants' experience to its complexity. According to the Rules, sports travel can have six categories of difficulty. If traveling first ks feasible for beginners, the sixth journey is extreme even for the most powerful and experienced travelers. Indeed, in some areas they may include climbing tops with a height of more than 7000 m, skiing is hundreds and hundreds of kilometers into a forty-degree frost along the endless Siberian ridges, waterways are breathtaking rafting on the wild rivers of Altai and Central Asia.

The system of sports tourism established over the decades minimally limits the initiative of travelers. Currently, a sports trip can be arranged to anywhere in the world, while everyone can become a team leader, if only he has experience of participating in the journey of the same category of complexity and leadership experience in a journey that is one category easier. The rest of the team must have experience of participating in a more simple (one category) journey. In addition to this basic principle, the Rules stipulate exceptions to more fully take into account the actual experience of travelers (for example, mountaineering experience or experience in other types of sports tourism). The master level in sports tourism is connected with the leadership in traveling of the highest (5th and 6th) categories of difficulty. Therefore, making two trips a year, a gifted athlete reaches this level in 5-6 years.

The following forms of sports tourism can be called, depending on its organization: sports tourism can be individual and mass.

Group tours involve the sale of a pre-planned standard set of services, oriented to a certain type of recreation, as well as on the social class of tourists and their age and sold to tourists in one package. The specifics of preparing and conducting this type of tour (a uniform program for everyone strictly related to the dates and schedule of travel) do not allow making any changes to the composition of the services offered, so a tourist can either buy it entirely or refuse to buy it altogether. This type of integrated service is called a package tour (from the English package tour - package tour). Ready-made package tours allow tour operators to use special rates, and their cost is usually lower than the total retail prices for individual services included in the package.

It is customary to distinguish the forms of tourism depending on the origin of tourists, on the length of stay, on the age of travelers, and on the season.

• 1.    Forms of tourism, depending on the origin of tourists. Depending on the origin of traveling, tourism is divided into domestic;

• 2.    Forms of tourism depending on the length of stay. A very important classification of forms of sports tourism is their classification depending on the length of stay. Travel duration refers to the time a tourist spends during a trip or stay in a visited place or country.

• 3.    Forms of tourism depending on the age of travelers. When classifying forms of sports tourism, the age of travelers is also taken into account. The following groups of tourists are identified on the age scale: children traveling with their parents; youth (tourists aged 15-24); relatively young, economically

• 4.    Forms of tourism depending on the time of year. Depending on the season, winter and summer tourism vary. Seasonal classification of forms of tourism shows the fluctuations in demand for tourist services throughout the year. The time at which the maximum number of trips takes place is called the tourist season, the period of travel decline is interseason. Tourist seasons in different regions may not coincide.

active people aged 25- 44 years; economically active people of middle (45 - 64 years) age (travel, as a rule, without children); pensioners (65 years and older).

Movement types in tourism

• 1.    Car tourism - people travel to countries or areas other than their permanent place of residence, in which the main vehicle is a private or rented car. Car travel is a form of tourism.

• 2.    Hitchhiking - free movement on the passing transport with the consent of the driver.

• 3.    Cycling tourism (cycle tourism) is one of the types of sports tourism, which consists of cycling routes containing general tourist and bicycle-specific obstacles, as well as one of the outdoor activities.

• 4.    Water tourism. Species are sailing tourism, rafting on mountain rivers;

• 5.    Equestrian tourism - horseback riding, a great way to learn or improve riding skills. Accommodation on equestrian routes: in field conditions in summer or at camp sites in winter.

• 6.    Ski tourism - movement is carried out on skis. Ski trips are carried out mainly in winter, that is, during the period when temperatures prevail below 0 ° C.

• 7.    Motorcycle tourism - movement on a motorcycle, where you can get to places that are impossible to get, for example, by car, to visit the most seemingly inaccessible corners of nature. This type of transport is very mobile and easy.

• 8.    Pedestrian tourism - movement on the route is mainly carried out on foot. A variety should be considered mountain tourism;

• 9.    Speleotourism - the meaning lies in traveling through natural underground cavities (caves) and overcoming various obstacles in them using different special equipment.

• 10.    Combined tourism or "multi" tourism is the conventional name of the direction in which participants during one trip (hike) combine in different versions elements of different types of tourism.

Tourism has come a long way in its development and today is one of the most successfully developing sectors of the world economy. Like any other sphere of economic activity, the tourism industry is a very complex system, the degree of development of which depends on the degree of development of the country's economy as a whole. At present, industrialized countries account for over 60% of all arrivals of foreign tourists and 70-75% of the trips made in the world. At the same time the share of countries in the EU accounts for about 40% of tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings.

Tourism is beautiful because everyone finds in it what he wants. Some people like mountains, some like rivers, some like to relax on the beach, while others like to test their strength. Strained nerves and a desire for competition, oddly enough, can help a person relieve fatigue. It is gaining strength throughout the world, and especially in Russia, sports and extreme tourism. More and more people are eager to see the beauty of the underwater world, to ski down a mountain slope and even to jump from a parachute.