On regional hospitality standards development (case study: Yaroslavl region)

Research and practice show that special-purpose programmes designed to promote tourismdevelopment at a regional level are generally aimed at improving industry and infrastructure in a targeted region. These tasks, as well as the issues of hotel, public catering and other service quality enhancement, are focal for developers of strategies and targeted programmes of regional tourism development. Besides tourist industry development, policy papers address marketing issues, such as, for example, the development, positioning and promotion ofthe tourist product. However, the issues concerning the tourist service quality and the hospitable atmosphere in the environment external to a tourism enterprise receive little attention. Experience shows that tourists value not only the service quality as provided by tourist-oriented enterprises but also the friendly and welcoming attitude ofthe local people, which, combined, serve to create a unique atmosphere of general hospitality. UNWTO regards the ethics of tourism development as important and indispensable. With this in mind, the authors of the article raise the problem of a hospitality standards complex development which, applied at a regional level, should include provisions to be implemented by the tourism industry and infrastructure participants to improve service. The authors hold that a standards complex will ensure a synergetic approach to the creation of a unique atmosphere of hospitality in a region, and assert that the content ofthe standards be based on the provisions of international legal acts and the legal and regulatory framework in effect in a particular region. A model of the standards is demonstrated in the context ofthe Yaroslavl region.