Potential of Russian-Belarusian borderland for tourism and recreation: studying by the content analysis

Identification of attractive tourist and recreational objects is of great importance in strategic planning of territory development. The Russian-Belarusian borderland has a significant potential for the implementation of joint tourism projects and programs within the framework of the Union State agreements. In this article the authors attempt to determine the attractiveness of tourist and recreational resources of the border region using the method of content analysis. Using data from the open services "Google Maps" and "Yandex Maps", they identified attractive natural and cultural-historical resources, which resulted in geoinformation data of their territorial organization on the borderland. The analyzed natural objects include specially protected natural territories of federal and republican significance, open to tourists, as well as urban parks, squares, forest plantations, etc. Cultural and historical resources are represented not only by objects from the registers of cultural heritage, but also by modern objects of interest to tourists and recreationists. Tourism and recreational resources are analyzed in terms of the number of reviews and ratings, as well as the average cost of services offered. The content analysis allowed authors to identify the leading and lagging regions in terms of tourist attractiveness. Municipal districts without attractive tourist objects were identified. The obtained data can be used to solve the key problems of cooperation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in the tourism and recreation sphere, as well as the organization of promising cross-border tourist routes.