Internet technology as a tool to promote tourist products (through the example of the Republic of Karelia)

The article examines the impact of rapidly developing Internet technologies on the channels and methods of promoting tourist products. The authors compare two models of advertising - the traditional (offline) and digital-model in conditions of promotion of the product through the Internet. Using the example of the tourist portal of the Republic of Karelia, the authors analyze the channels of promotion (SEO-promotion, SMM-promotion in social networks, content marketing). Based on the information received from the analytical tool Yandex Metrics for the tourist portal of Karelia and third-party site analysis services, the site's quantitative and qualitative traffic is analyzed - the geography of visitors, their age structure, seasonal variations of views, the time spent by the user on the site, and the sources of this traffic. Based on the data obtained, the authors disclose the possibilities of a comprehensive analysis of the potential guests’ interest in tourist products of the region presented on the portal. It is recommended to focus on the already popular routes, while changing the form of presentation and the quality of the information about not very popular tourist products. Based on the social network Instagram, the article considers subjective user preferences of types of tourism in Karelia and tourist attractions of the region. Such analytical data coming in the monitoring mode can be used to develop the marketing strategy of the region and its tourism products.