The current state of children's tourism in Lipetsk region

The article examines the main trends in the development of children’s tourism in the Russian Federation, identifies the obstacles to children’s tourism’s fulfillment of its significant role: to participate in the upbringing, education and health improvement of the younger generation. The destruction of the socio-economic system of the Soviet state radically changed the structure and approaches to organizing children’s tourism in the Russian Federation. The author presents a generalized picture of negative processes in children’s tourism, based on the results of statistical data over the past 5 years and the results of recent scientific research. At the state level, a number of measures are being taken to resolve the situation, which relate to changes in the regulatory framework and in organizational and management structures. These numerous attempts, however, do not create conceptual foundations in the development of children’s tourism, do not have a systemic nature and, as a result, do not give the desired effect. Regional specifics in the children’s tourism development reflect the national trends. This is clearly demonstrated by the experience of the Lipetsk region, in which, along with negative trends, the author traces a number of positive points: an increase in the number of children who have rested in children’s health camps, the continuation of the traditions of tourism and local history work on the basis of additional education institutions and within the framework of organizing one-day and multi-day tourist trips, activities of the Argamach Archaeological Park and The Forest Park. The article identifies a number of organizational decisions and initiatives as promising areas (the creation of the Committee for the Development of Children’s Tourism in February 2020, the results of the Committee’s meetings in 2020), which should raise the level of development of children’s tourism.