Religious tourism as a mechanism for maintaining spiritual and cultural processes at the level of the regional society

The article gives a brief characteristic of Russian culture as a self- organizing system. The authors reveal the mechanisms to preserve identity in provincial traditional culture. The importance of educational activities in the tourism sector to maintain the spiritual and cultural processes is given in the thesis. The authors also state that the cultural interacting in the Middle Volga region was far from painless, because the cultural landscape over the last 100 years dramatically changed under the influence of ideological factors that forced ethno-cultural communities to adapt to new circumstances in a different cultural landscape. The article shows significant changes of religious architec- ture in the region from almost complete destruction to even some ex- cess recovery. These changes indisputably have affected the saturation of spiritual culture. The authors examine the consequences of the re- turn of religious structures in the cultural landscape and give the histor- ical and cultural characteristics of some objects of Orthodox religious tourism in Samara region. Current situation, trends and prospects in the religious tourism industry of tourism and recreation are also ana- lyzed; a classification of religious tourism is represented; the motiva- tion of religious tourists and pilgrims is explored. On the basis of cul- tural and historical analysis, the authors give some recommendations that can be used in the strategy of regional development of religious tourism, in the development of program activities for the preparation of new tourism products that meet the needs and capabilities of Sama- ra region, as well as the main development trends in religious tourism and preservation of historical and cultural heritage. In general, accord- ing to the authors, religious tourism should help to restore the tradi- tional image of the region in modern regional culture.