The role of museums in the tourism development with the participation of small cities (the case-study of Vladimir region)

This article examines the prospects for involving small cities in the development of domestic tourism and the role of museums in creating attractive tourist products. The authors state that the creative integrated approach to unconventional museum expositions helps to attract different age and social groups. Due to this, the audience of municipal museums can grow and create additional opportunities for small Russian cities development. Museums can significantly contribute to the provision of consumer experiences in a small city, and to the creation of tourist memorable impressions as a result of proposed tourist product consumption. The example of Vladimir region shows that museums’ participation in the development of interactive programs and events included in the regional events calendar can contribute to increasing the interest in Russian small cities as tourist destinations, as well to the growth and distribution of tourist flow. Given the limited resources of small cities and municipal museums, it is necessary to search for effective combinations of museum and tourist product attributes; to develop interactive approaches; to form small city value proposition and inform about it all target audiences; to provide transport accessibility; to create a convenient system for the purchase of tourist and museum services. In this regard, various forms of support, contributing to involving all groups of tourist destination stakeholders in tourist product co-creation and the development of tourist infrastructure, are important.