Economic aspects of sustainable tourism development in the regions of the Russian Federation

At the present time the analysis of tourist destinations in Russia within the framework of sustainable tourism is becoming increasingly important. And it is predetermined not only by the recognition of the credibility and usefulness of the sustainable tourism concept, but also by the raising awareness of broad medium- and long- term effects and externalities, as well as all interdisciplinary aspects of the tourism industry development in Russia and in its regions which need to be thoroughly studied for both academic and practical reasons. This article aspires to uncover a number of fundamental economic aspects of sustainable tourism in the context of regional destinations. The selection of a regional perspective is dictated by the fact that at this level are formed many of the most important prerequisites for sustainable long-term development of the tourist complex, specifically in terms of economically rational decision-making processes on the part of regional and local authorities and businesses. A major objective of the paper is to focus at least on the partial spectrum of the economic factors that must be born in mind in the process of developing a strategic plan for sustainable development of a regional tourism destination in Russia. A broader economic interpretation of sustainable tourism, advocated in this study, goes beyond the relatively narrow scope of environmental and socio-economic impacts of tourism development; and it is relating to some less obvious economic aspects of destination development, but which are nevertheless directly related to the issues ofsustainable development and are influential factors within this perspective. The two central blocks of economic factors ofsustainable tourism development are structured, with description of their importance and main topics, specification of challenges and threats to regional destinations'' economic development. Some examples from Russian and world practices of preventing and addressing individual problems are analyzed. The first block includes the components of investment, funding, fiscal and budgetary nature. The second block consists of the aspects of the tourism industry''s organizational and structural features, the factors of production employed and interactions with other industries of the region and the outside world. And the analysis of economic issues of regional destinations ''sustainable development in the second section goes beyond the cluster approach, which is the predominant focus in Russian studies. Together, these two blocks of factors,form the organizational and economic mechanism of the tourist complex, which it is advisable to develop on the basis of a full-fledged mainstreaming sustainable tourism.