Methodical foundations of active tourism development in the small bend of the Don

The Volgograd Region is a promising region for the development of many types and forms of active tourism. The combination of unique natural conditions creates all the necessary prerequisites for the recreational development of the region, especially in the field of active tourism. The large size of the territory (112.9 thousand sq. km.) determines the development of the existing recreational zones and the creation of new ones, promising for the organization of tourism. In this article, one of the most promising areas for the development of active tourism in the Volgograd region is the Bolshaya Golubaya river basin, which is used as a model site for applied research work of the Department of Geography and Cartography of the Volgograd State University. When studying the recreational potential of the researched site, the method of expert assessments was used. The experts were tour operators for domestic tourism. According to the analysis of expert assessments, it is revealed that the development of recreational tourism in the study area is a promising area. Based on the analysis of natural conditions, recreational potential and expert evaluation data, the team of authors outlines the types of sports tourism and their features for development on the territory of the Bolshaya Golubaya river basin. Within the framework of the research, a model of sports and health tourism is created in the area under study, which includes weekend tours of various types of sports tourism. With the help of the ArcGIS10.0 software, this model of development of active tourism in the Bolshaya Golubaya river basin is presented in the form of a cartographic scheme that clearly demonstrates the location of routes of promising types of active tourism.