Social tourism for youth as a driver of domestic tourism

To view a copy of this license, visit

For each country, domestic and inbound tourism is of great economic, political and sociocultural importance. Such types of tourism as family, retirees, youth tourism providing opportunities to meet the needs for recreation and travel of social categories of the population relate to social tourism. Youth tourism is considered one of the most promising. The high tourist activity of young people is explained by many such qualities as mobility, open-mindedness to new ideas, romanticism, their desire for knowledge and communication. Recently, it has been discovered that they earn money independently, have free time due to vacations, and work on individual schedules or using distant technologies. It determines the interest of young people in organizing their leisure, travel, while they are modest in terms of quality and level of service requirements preferring affordable budget tours. For example, in European countries, tour operators offer various vacation options for young people: in terms of duration, level of accommodation comfort, type of food, etc. In Russia, currently, the strategy of domestic and inbound tourism development is aimed at a new, socially-oriented level. To deliver on targets stated in the Russian Tourism Development Strategy by 2035, “it is necessary to identify the potential for a tourist product to meet the expectations of target audiences, ... to identify priority territories and create conditions for increasing the interest of businesses in the systemic tourism development.” (Strategy-2035, 2019) [9]. In practice, the share of tour operators involved in domestic and inbound tourism is low, lacking the companies which specialize in the youth segment. Also, it is problematic to single out the share of the youth segment in both international and Russian tourist flows since such monitoring has not been carried out. In planning tourism activities, new knowledge is of great significance, including in the field of statistical observations and empirical research. It is also evident that having been influenced by the recent events in the world, including those related to COVID-19, tourism is showing high adaptation to the ongoing changes. Despite a slight decrease in purchasing power, the closure of borders for international travel, Russians still show interest in trips, which was proved by 2020.Tourism industry operators need to foster Russian tourist activity, developing social tourism and import substitution in the domestic market. Moreover, it is relevant to update such directions as environmental and recreational, ensuring the availability of tourist products and boosting the incentive to travel.

Content analysis

In the EU countries, the European Parliament has supported the Calypso social tourism project. The goal of this project is to equalize people's access to travel and support social tourism in the EU countries. There have been identified such social categories of the population as the elderly and retirees, young people aged 1830, families with a small income, and the disabled (Kouřilová & Kratochvílová, 2014) [7]. Within the project framework, a tour operator SKM 2000 Travel was selected for dealing with the social group of young people. Its main mission is to improve the life quality of young people, students, and teachers by providing discounts on bus and train tickets, organizing student exchanges, running curricula, participating in summer training programs, and individual tourism (Jablonska, Jaremko & Timčák, 2016) [4]. In Russia, the approach to state regulation of social tourism in the context of social policy is considered the most effective where the state is a key player. At the government level, the draft Law on Social Tourism was rejected, but some regions of Russia are implementing their programs for the development of social tourism. For example, the Law on St. Petersburg Support for the Tourism Development in St. Petersburg (Putrik, 2013) [10], the program of development of social tourism in the Republic of Bashkortostan (2012);

Social tourism is likewise progressing at the ministerial level. Specifically, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs operates tourist trips and health tours for its employees at the expense of the Ministry budget. Youth tourism is principally sustained in the frame of youth policy. For instance, under the instructions of the Russian President Department, a youth tourism development plan in the regions (2008–2011) was generated by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs. However, examples seem to indicate that youth tourism support in terms of targeted programs has been implemented only by non-state initiatives in the regions.

Thus, (in European countries and Russian regions) while defining the conditions and factors interconnected with tourist trips for social categories of the population, there has been an inefficient assessment of links with the area such as tourist sites, destinations, tourist centers.

Examining youth tourism, it is vital to call attention to the cultural and educational aspects that outstand in tourism (Sokolenko, 2014) [11]:

• •    as a factor in raising the educational and cultural level of youth;

• •    as a means of effective management of the cultural inheritance value and creation of an effective country's image.

The purpose of the study of social tourism for a youth group is to classify the main preferences and trends. In this regard, it is required to consistently solve the following tasks: to identify the general and specific in research (theoretical and empirical) of youth tourism as an integral part of social tourism, as well as the features associated with the motivation of this population group and links with regional factors and conditions for its development in the future.

Methodology and methods

The research methodology is based on the concept and the following provisions. In the view of the aforesaid, youth tourism being an element of social tourism is evaluated as follows:

• 1)    a part of the tourist socio-economic system which performs under the impact of the external and internal environment. (Kamenets, 2015) [5]. Whereas, environmental factors such as economic, political, natural, socio-cultural, scientific, and technical are defined as force majeure, which determines the dynamism and variability of the system. Consequently, certain coordination and regulation are required using specific tools and mechanisms.

• 2)    a part of social tourism is characterized by general socio-economic features and elements, such as goals, the subject of social tourism. Furthermore, social tourism highlights are presented, firstly, by the sources of financial aid, and, secondly, by determining clear criteria for social groups’ classification, for example, by age.

Social tourism aims to provide its citizens with real opportunities and accessibility to recreation and travel, which is a consequence of the fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms that are of high importance for the tourism sector (the right to move freely, choose a place of stay). This is due to the normative system of social tourism, in which the rights of citizens are specified in documents and legal acts.

Social tourism participants (also referred to as ‘social tourism subjects’) comprise social groups of the population, among which are schoolchildren, students, the disabled, the retired, and extended families, etc.

The Strategy for the Development of Tourism in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035 represents the idea of youth tourism as tourism for people aged 18 to 35 years. This provision narrows the official scope of this population category (Strategy-2035, 2019) [9].

Organizationally, the forms and tools that determine the consumption of tourism products in this area come in the form of benefits for vouchers to vacation retreats, health resorts, boarding guest houses, as well as discount transport tickets, etc. Experience shows that this is mainly organized, collective tourism within the country with cultural, educational, recreational, restorative, and health recovering purposes.

Research results

Here is another experience of empirical research among student youth in Russian regions.

The outcomes of the youth tourism research also introduce the correlation with the factors of border areas, which increases tourist exchange between countries. That raises interest in the history of another country, learning a foreign language, ethnic cuisine, and education. For example, in the Far East, more young people are getting keen on Chinese communication, for business and personal needs, just as on the history, culture, and philosophy of China (Sokolenko, 2014) [11]. Tourist exchange in the border area, along with the major task, solves the problem of changing the stereotypical perception of tourist regions between neighboring countries (in particular, Russia and China).

For a deeper study of the problems of youth tourism, a sociological poll was conducted (861

Fig. 1 – Survey calculations fragment (s ource : c ompiled by the authors)

The questionnaire was divided into several sections. Block 1 included the questions that related to information about the rest on social packages, frequency, duration, cost compensation, the purpose of travel (in the last trip). In block 2, questions related to the choice and estimation of accommodation services, the level of satisfaction with social rest (scale: 5 - very satisfied,…, 1 - completely unsatisfied), as well as the evaluation of the price-quality ratio of social rest.

The next section introduces the questions regarding the choice of visiting tourist centers and events (already visited and would like to visit in the future), as well as plans for a future trip. Block 4 enters indicators about promising tourist destinations, in particular, preferences for tourist events, guide work relevance, etc. The last block contains a respondent passport. Calculations were carried out in the Excel system (Fig. 1).

According to the summary, the calculation results showed that 90% of the respondents had a vacation on a social package at least once in their lives, while the trip had been organized by a group / with a teacher, with partial or full compensation as well as during training practic- es, participation in conferences. The survey aims to define the main purpose of the trip, which is caused by its motive. According to the answers, the travel goals are grouped as basic (target) and extra ones, and the following rating is compiled (Fig. 2):

Fig. 2 – Structure of respondents by the purpose of travel (s ource : c ompiled by the authors)

• —    basic goals: cognitive, event, educational, cultural-cognitive, religious (73.9–34.8%);

• —    extra goals: sports, recreation, health, adventure, environmental (34.7–4.5%).

It should be highlighted that the goal of cognition is most often noted (73.9%), therefore among young people, the concern for new knowledge, new information is dominant. The low rating of the goal of health improvement (recreation in camps), in our opinion, is contradictory since you practically will not meet a child who has not been to school camps. The preference to travel in a group or with friends is indirectly showed up in communications.

According to the research results, a high level of satisfaction in the ratio of price and quality indicates that, on the one hand, the requirements for the quality of service among young people are not overestimated, and on the other hand, it can be assumed that social rest is presented at a good level.

In the long term, when young people plan a trip, the factor of free time is in priority. Thus, more than 50% of the respondents do not intend to rest due to lack of time or for personal reasons. Lack of finance is in the third place as a reason. This indicator characterizes that financial and material support is not always an influential factor among young people when intending to rest and travel.

As follows from the research, the most attractive tourist sites and activities were determined with the questions: 'what have you already visited' or 'what would you like to visit.' The results showed that young people are most interested in such activities as excursion, weekend tour, winter weekend tour in the tourist complex", etc. On the one hand, the choice can be explained by the geographic accessibility of tourist sites, especially beneficial on short-term trips. On the other hand, tourist centers and ongoing activities can also raise the interest of

СЕТЕВОЙ НАУЧНЫЙ

ЖУРНАЛ

young people in this area.

Discussion

The social tourism research results of youth groups are generally of interest to a number of parties.

For the youth group, the dominant position is occupied by cognitive and communication motives. In this case, the concept of cognition is characterized as, on the one hand, cognition of new places, territories, cities, and acquaintance with new people; on the other hand, as cognition of oneself, which is manifested in sports and active types of tourism. For example, there are opportunities for testing oneself in overcoming difficulties, forming endurance, and steadiness of character. The youth communicative incentive is caused by the necessity in relation while traveling in groups, making and meeting friends, contact with contemporaries of different culture and language. Survey and social work prove that adolescent tourism is affected not by social rank, profit level, knowledge but by impulse, which determines travel goals.

When planning a vacation and a journey, the decisive factor for them will be considered free time; on the contrary, material wealth will not always be crucial. The tourist activity of young people is defined by the provision of tourist facilities and activities, which can increase their interest, as well as by their availability.

In the future, it is relevant for researchers to solve not only social and economic problems but to analyze the variety and challenges of social group interactions, to examine participants' behavior paying attention to recreation and travel. Enhancing research and evaluation in tourism can raise its impact on the integration of various social groups.

A better understanding of the characteristics of the tourist social groups can help tourism service providers and intermediaries adopt their tourist products to the needs and requirements of tourists, with an emphasis on the sociocultural elements of youth group tours. In the future, when making decisions, young travelers should be considered significant, as they are the next gene-ration of tourists.

Conclusion

Thus, based on the results of youth tourism research, the following has been resumed:

Socially oriented tourist products for young people are relevant due to the emphasis on the social and cultural aspects, such as moral, spiritual and scientific, and educational.

We believe that there will be demand for trips in groups including those with foreign students, based on the principle of zero economy, i.e., affordable tours without big financial investments, where social initiatives of participants in tourist activities and youth groups become the main resource. Tourist programs for young people of different nationalities are becoming a unifying factor and a means of forming developing tourism in different regions of Russia.

In the interaction of educational organizations (of top and middle level), it is especially important to take into account the growing trend of foreign students as well as students from other regions of Russia. In this case, representatives of specialized departments of leading regional universities can become coordinators.

The local policy for young people and provincial grant program stipulates the necessity to focus on natural, cultural, and historical perspectives, Altai Krai advancement level, and other regional components.

The problem of availability of tourist recreation for young people, improvement of social tourism system especially concerning social initiatives is educed and highly required a solution. To do this, through the system of benefits, entrepreneurs should be interested in the formation and implementation of socially oriented low-cost tours to the regions and around Russia.

СЕРВИС

В РОССИИ

И ЗА РУБЕЖОМ