Territorial tourism associations as a promising form of integration in the field of tourism

The article is devoted to the development of theoretical and methodological recommendations aimed at the development of territorial tourist associations, which in modern realities become the most important form of integration in the tourism sector. The subject of the article is an integrated system of joint development of territories, which has appropriate development tools and mechanisms, socio-economic potential, a defined management model built in accordance with functional features with access to the resulting effect. The purpose of the study is the scientific justification of methodological approaches and practical recommendations for the development of territorial tourist associations in its various forms (cluster, destitution, etc.), adapted to the conditions of modern realities. The hypothesis of scientific research is based on the assumption that a territorial tourist association is a holistic system of joint development of territories, which has all the features of a self-governing unit, which makes it possible to simplify the administrative processes of interterritorial interaction. The main research methods are based on the fundamental scientific works of Russian and foreign scientists in the field of recreation and tourism, in the field of research of integrated territorial systems, their forms and methods of functioning. The results of the work consist in substantiating a new approach to the study of integrated structures in the tourism sector, based on the identification process, which involves the implementation of a number of stages aimed at developing territorial associations and extending the effect of their development to the level of tourist, recreational or resort areas. Functional typology of territorial tourist associations is presented. A systematic approach to the process of identifying territorial tourist associations is justified, which allows not only to distinguish structural and process components as a set of tourist-recreational or resort areas, but also to determine their place in the hierarchy of territorial systems. The results of the study can be used in the development of conceptual provisions that make it possible to supplement and clarify the conceptual apparatus in the field of integration processes for the development of territorial entities in tourism, the formation of scientifically based tools that provide for increasing the competitive advantages of the territories thanks to voluntary cooperation and the consolidation of resources in order to obtain the resulting effect and the implementation of recreational tourism projects. The directions of future research are related to the determination of the impact of territorial tourism associations on the sustainable development of the tourism industry and its leading sectors.