Domestic tourism and tourist resources of the Stavropol krai: potential, key segments, and prospective niches

The current state of the domestic tourism development and the availability of tourist resources of the Stavropol Territory by types of tourism was studied based on the analysis of regional resource potential using (natural, historical and cultural): the presence of rural areas, enterprises providing rural tourism services, the number of agricultural producers with the status of a legal entity, the number of objects of rural tourism, registered and operating, food supplies, accommodation facilities of municipalities and urban districts. Based on the survey conducted by the authors of tourists of the Caucasian mineral waters, vacationers in specialized accommodation facilities of the region of the obtained characteristics and identified features, "portraits" of representatives of the target audience were compiled, which made it possible to establish the needs, priorities, interest in various types of tourism of the Stavropol Territory, to identify promising opportunities for the development of active, event, rural tourism in the Stavropol Territory, taking into account regional features. Conclusions are drawn about the revealed disproportion between the "growing demand" from tourists coming to the Stavropol Territory and the "missing supply" from the tourism facilities of rural areas and agricultural producers.