Tourism competitiveness of the Russian subjects: genesis and essence

The published materials have been prepared within the framework of State Assignment No. 075– 00126–25–00 dated December 25, 2024, from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, for the execution of the research work titled «Scientific Approaches to the Structural Assessment of the Tourist Competitiveness of Russian Subjects, including Systematic Monitoring and Forecasting of Development». The paper presents a theoretical and methodological study of the formation and substantive content of the concept of tourist competitiveness. The main goal of the research is to achieve a theoretical formalization of the concept of «tourist competitiveness of a Russian subject» and to analyze the transformation of methodological approaches to its measurement. The author conducts a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the concept of tourist competitiveness, based on the scientific works of both domestic and foreign researchers. The study defines the substantive characteristics of regional tourist competitiveness considering modern challenges, systematizes the factors forming competitive advantages in the tourism sector, and provides a comparative analysis of existing methodological approaches to evaluating this phenomenon. As a result of the research, the necessity of the theoretical formalization of the concept «tourist competitiveness of a subject of the Russian Federation», the development of an adapted methodology suitable to Russian specifics, the creation of management tools for regional tourist competitiveness, and the development of a methodology to assess the dynamics of this integral indicator are substantiated. The author proposes an original definition of the concept «tourist competitiveness of a Russian subject». The methodological framework of the study includes the application of systematic and factor analysis, ranking procedures, expert evaluation methods, as well as synthesis and generalization of research results.