Underwater tourism in Russia as a part of international diving

The article presents the system of organizing recreational diving (recreational diving) both in the world and in Russia, with its formation peculiarities in the period from 1959 to the present. Recreational diving is currently seen as a dynamically developing area of tourism, with an annual turnover of billions of dollars. The article discusses the main development stages of recreational diving, as well as the modern structure of this topical direction of sea tourism and the blue economy. Diving enthusiasts (divers), the marine environment, the host (local) community and the underwater tourism industry (including all related industries) are fundamental elements of modern recreational diving determining its sustainable development. The systems approach in building the organizational foundations for recreational diving emphasizes the need for thoughtful management and encouragement of stakeholder collaboration to ensure the sustainability of coastal resource management. The marine environment stability is a major global problem, the solution of which gives all organizers of underwater tourism the prospect of its sustainable development for decades to come.