Tourism in the Russian Federation: opportunities for import substitution

The paper considers the essence of an economic phenomenon such as import substitution, and determines its possible directions, on the example of tourism - one of the priority sectors of the Russian economy. The Russian Federation has a rich cultural and natural potential for the development of domestic tourism, which allows various kinds of tourism activities to be organized. Currently, however, its market is not developed sufficiently due to uncompetitive underdeveloped tourist infrastructure, as well as the mismatch between the quality and price of tourism services. The relevance of the study is connected with the impact of the following factors on the Russian tourist market: economic sanctions of foreign countries against Russia; uncontrolled fall of the exchange rate; economic crisis in the country; ban imposed in 2015 on the sales of tours for Russians to the most popular destinations such as Turkey and Egypt for a long period, and a turbulent geopolitical situation in the world. The goal of the article is to analyze the scope of domestic tourism in the Russian Federation, to identify areas that help replace vacation abroad with domestic tourism products. The study uses the following methods: theoretical analysis, statistical data analysis, synthesis, expert assessments. Import substitution in tourism is reflected in the works of G. M. Romanova, A. M. Vetinev, S. N. Abakumov and other researchers. Scientific novelty of the article lies in the development of specific areas of import substitution in tourism, able to increase the volume of domestic tourist traffic in the short term. The article summarizes views of different economists and presents the main approaches to import substitution, justifies the authors’ position concerning the choice in favor of one of these views. On the basis of statistical and sociological data, the authors analyze the development of domestic tourism market in the Russian Federation, identify main trends in its functioning and conclude that the subjects of the Russian tourist industry did shift their focus on the domestic market in 2014 and 2015. In conclusion, the paper proposes ways to implement import substitution in tourism, reveals constraints to the development of domestic tourism in the Russian Federation, and deϔines possible ways to overcome them. The practical importance of the research consists in the possibility of using its results in making management decisions for the purpose of development of domestic tourism.