Assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the tourism sector of the region

The study focuses on the current issue of consumer demand activation in the Russian regions, contributing to the recovery of economic dynamics in the short term. The paper shows that consumption of goods and services of the tourism industry can be a promising way to stimulate consumer demand. The purpose of the research is to determine the prospects for stimulating the consumption of goods and services of the tourism industry in the region, given the coronavirus pandemic impact. The information base of the work is the works of domestic and foreign scientists, affecting the problems of consumer demand and engaged in determining the prospects for the tourism industry. We used methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, tools based on the methodology of intersectoral balance. The scientifi c novelty of the study, which determines its contribution to the development of science, lies in improving the methodology for assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry at the regional level. The practical signifi cance of the study lies in the fact that its results can be useful in economic policy to stimulate the consumption of tourist services in the region. The paper determined that the spread of coronavirus signifi cantly reduced the volume of fi nal consumption of households in Russian regions, including decreased spending on paid services. We revealed that the Vologda region is a promising region in which the recovery of consumer demand is possible on the basis of increasing consumption of tourist services. We determined that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on tourism in the region, signifi cantly reducing the output of goods and services produced by the tourism industry. Using intersectoral modeling, we calculated the effects on the regional economy of the decline in tourist demand in 2020 in terms of such indicators as gross output, the number of employees and wage fund for all types of economic activity. We identifi ed ways to promote the growth of tourism services consumption in the region.