The tourism cluster of the republic Crimea and Sevastopol in the context of investment attractiveness

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Formulation of the problem. Under today’s conditions of globalization, both in the economy and in the particular region the understanding of the place and the role of the industry is becoming very important. At the moment the cluster principle of the business storage including tourism is the modern innovation that allows improving the competitiveness of the industry. One of the priorities of social and economic development of Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea is the © Matushevskaya Е.А., 2017

development of the tourism industry 1. In addition, at the state level the importance of tourism development is noted in the Federal target program “Development of international and internal tourism in the Russian Federation” [1] and the Tourism Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020 [2].

One of the problems of the tourism industry of the Republic of the Crimea and the Russian Federation as a whole is the strengthening of the investment attractiveness of this industry, creating the conditions for a favorable investment climate and the orientation of Russian tourists to the internal tourism.

Recent research and publication. Such scientists as I.G. Shepelev [3], U.A. Markova [3], O.I. Dontsova [4], V.N. Zasko [4], T.V. Lvova [5] and other studied tourism and recreation clusters. However, the assessment of regional clusters in the context of their investment attractiveness is given too little attention. Today, the Crimea and Sevastopol are favorite places for the Russians for health, event and patriotic tourism. Under the present conditions the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol need investment especially in the tourism sector.

Materials and the Results. The tourism cluster is a series of interrelated business entities that operate in the field of tourist industries within the same geographic boundary. The purpose of the creation of the tourism recreation cluster is to increase the competitiveness of the territory in the tourist market due to the synergistic effect [3].

The tourism industry in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in particular is the priority and is quite attractive considering the geographic, climatic and historical features of the region. According to the statistics of 2016 there are 770 objects of tourism industry with total capacity of 158.2 thousand places, not counting small objects of individual farms in the Republic of the Crimea (Table 1, Fig. 1).

If we consider the inflow of tourists in the Republic of the Crimea in 2016 and compare it with the previous data of 2015, it is possible to state that the number of tourists decreased from May to April and this can be explained by force majeure, namely “black-out”, but there is a steady increase in the number of tourists since May (Table 2, Fig. 2).

Thus, we can say that today the tourism sector of the Republic of Crimea is developing dynamically.

In order to strengthen the investment attractiveness of the tourism industry there is a need to create favorable investment climate. Of course, the favorable investment climate is formed in a particular environment under the influence of economic, social, political, and legal factors. So then the investment climate is a favorable environment for the investment.

Table 1

Fig. 1. Forms of entities ownership of the tourism sector of the Republic of Crimea

Objects of tourism sector of the Crimea in 2016 2

Region	The number of tourism sector objects, unit	Total capacity of tourism sector objects, thousand places	The number of spa treatment objects, unit	The number of objects which provide health service, unit	The number of objects which provide temporary accommodation services, unit
The Republic of Crimea	770	158,2	144	216	410

Table 2

Number of tourists in the Republic of Crimea for the period 2015-2016

Period	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
2015	149,7	135,9	171,9	218,1	347,2	666,5	613,7	1044	594	259	218	180
2016	75,6	44,5	123,3	211,7	355	759,1	1443,7	–	–	–	–	–

Е.А. Матушевская. Инвестиционная привлекательность туристического кластера Крыма и Севастополя

Fig. 2. The rate of growth of tourists by months in 2016 compared with the same periods in 2015

As noted above, the tourism industry is a priority for the Crimea and the issue of its investment attractiveness is also very important to the region. Investment attractiveness is an assessment that originates from the comparison of the benefits (advantages) and risks (disadvantages) of the enterprise during the current and strategic period [6, p. 50].

The advantages of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in terms of investment attractiveness of the tourism cluster are the geographical location and the climatic conditions. However, along with the advantages, there is a number of disadvantages, which include an outdated material and technical base of tourism sector objects, a comparatively low level of services, transport and logistics inconvenience that inhibits the growth of investment significantly.

Conclusions and offers. The tourism sector of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol is a promising and a priority issue. Despite its dynamic development, the problem the investment attraction is quite acute and requires a strategic implementation plan.

Thus, there is a need to focus Russian tourists to the internal tourism, which is part of the concept of “economic patriotism” [7, p. 416–417]. To do this it is necessary to create favorable conditions for leisure travelers and a favorable investment climate.

NOTES

• ¹    Official website of the government of Sevastopol. Investment Portal [electronic resource]. Available at: http: //investsevastopol.ru/ru/investicionnaya-privlekatelnost (accessed August 31, 2016).

• ²    State program of development of resorts and tourism in the Republic of Crimea for 2015-2017 YEARS.

Available at: (accessed August 29, 2016).