Tourist publications as a tool for promoting national tourist routes

The main goal of the Tourism Development Strategy in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035 is to more than triple the number of trips by domestic tourists and more than 8 times the number of trips by foreign citizens across Russia compared to 2020. To do this, National Tourist Routes (NTR) should be promoted as one of the most important factors in increasing the tourist attractiveness of the Russian Federation in the domestic and international markets. Various types of tourist publications are used to promote NTR, increase tourist awareness, and stimulate tourist motives, the most popular of which are tourist guides. The article discusses the theoretical aspects of using tourist publications to generate and maintain tourist demand in order to increase the tourist flow of a destination. Three author’s classifications of tourist publications are presented: according to the degree of informatization, the type of content and the object of promotion. A retrospective analysis of tourist guides has shown their importance for the formation of tourist motivation. The authors studied modern tourist publications of the Tver region, released to promote the national tourism routes «The road of Sovereigns» and «To the Tver Region at the behest of the soul», conducted statistical and comparative analysis, and revealed the relationship between the number of tourists in the region and the quality of tourist printing. The analysis of Yandex.Metrica data on the behavior of visitors to specialized websites of regional tourist administrations and specialized regional travel portals is important for studying the impact of digitalization of tourist destinations and tourist publications on the tourist flow of the region. The research resulted in recommendations for improving the system of promoting national tourist routes through tourist publications.