Strengthening the tourism appeal of Russian territories: current trends and management practices

The article is devoted to an acute issue of regional governance - the development of tourism appeal of Russian territories. The article discusses the concept of “tourism appeal”, substantiates the author’s viewpoint in relation to its content. The research methods by the author include document analysis and the sociological survey of experts (heads of local authorities). Statistical and sociological data served as the basis for determining the specifics and problems of tourism development in the Russian Federation reflected in the objective and subjective indicators of tourism infrastructure performance. The article determines the malfunctions of modern management practices in tourism development in the Russian Federation; it also reveals the main problems related to the implementation of program-target management methods in modern government and regional policy. The authors make a conclusion that the implementation of program-target methods of development of the tourism appeal of territories is associated with a number of drawbacks that limit their effectiveness; they distinguish the following main problems that emerge in the implementation of the federal target program “Development of domestic and inbound tourism in the Russian Federation (2011-2018)”: financial risks; the declarative principle of selection of regions for participation in the federal target program; focus on the achievement of economic indicators - these problems make it difficult to assess the long-term prospects of aspects of tourism appeal such as the creation and/or development of unique tourist attractions, the image of a territory, high threshold values of co-financing of expenditure obligations to implement the programs for regional budgets. The article highlights the main constraints for tourism development in the Russian Federation on the basis of the comparative analysis of results of surveys of residents and experts. The authors justify the need for a transition from the government policy of direct intervention to the model of indirect regulation of tourism development. The article defines the main directions for modernization of the interaction between the federal, regional and local authorities for the purpose of effective development of tourism appeal of Russia.