The problem of classifying rural tourism

Rural tourism as a long-known phenomenon in recent years is using the new drivers of development and becoming increasingly popular form of recreation. Abroad and in Russia about a third of the population are interested in this type of holiday. However, while the foreign rural tourism industry is almost formed, the domestic experience indicates an extremely high deficit of tourist facilities and accommodation. Development of rural tourism in Russia is not conducive because of a number of problems, one of the key ones is the lack of conceptual provisions. This is related, first of all, to the very understanding of the phenomenon of rural tourism, its variants and their relationship. In domestic practice, rural tourism is often identified with many other types of tourism - agritourism, gastronomic, environmental, green, active, sports, etc. In this paper, the author puts forward the hypothesis that rural tourism acts an umbrella term for a number of types of tourism. The author proves this assumption and the proposes a classification of rural tourism.