Sphere of recreational and tourist services as a priority direction of the economic strategy of Russian regions

This article discusses the problems that are currently faced by the non-productive sphere of the Russian economy and, in particular, the recreation and tourism sector. The scale, variability, and powerful resource potential of this industry make it one of the key and promising elements of the economic strategy for the development of the regions of the Russian Federation. Tourism acts as a kind of catalyst for the socio-economic progress of the territories concerned, as it contributes to the development of related industries - construction, transport, communications, trade, logistics, agriculture. Nevertheless, in spite of its obvious advantages, the recreation sector is faced with a number of obstacles at the legislative, managerial, and technical levels, which, as a result, constrain the development of Russia's external and internal tourism. The priority in the issue of increasing competitiveness and increasing the share of Russian tourism in the structure of the global market for recreational services should be the total renewal of production and recreation infrastructure. For its further improvement, the sphere of tourism and recreation needs initiative support from the state. This would allow more productive use of material, informational, natural and human resources to solve the country's global socio-economic dilemmas.