Identification of the most promising areas of Volgograd region for the rural tourism development

One of the factors of the domestic tourism successful development is the close attention to the peculiarities of the tourism potential of the region as a whole and its territories, especially rural ones, in the light of the priority of rural tourism at the state level. The study attempts to identify the most promising municipal districts of Volgograd region for the development of various facets of rural tourism. The assessing methodology for Russian regions attractiveness is used by the magazine "Rest in Russia" and the Center for Information Communications "Rating" for compiling a national tourist rating since 2015. This methodology adapted by the authors to assess the tourist attractiveness of individual municipal districts. As a result of the generalization of quantitative data characterizing various aspects of tourist potential, an assessment of the districts of the region was carried out according to the following factors of tourist attractiveness: territorial proximity to Volgograd, the presence of protected areas, natural parks, display objects of tourist interest, significant cultural heritage sites, including those included in the state register; availability of hotels near places of tourist interest; availability of accommodation of category 35*, involvement in sightseeing routes. It was found that the following districts have the greatest potential for the development of rural tourism in Volgograd region: Dubovsky, Kamyshinsky, Sredneakhtubinsky, Serafimovichsky, Svetloyarsky, Gorodishchensky, Ilovlinsky, Kalachevsky and Pallasovsky. Accordingly, the concepts and programs for the rural tourism development should proceed from the priority for Dubovsky district - cultural, historical and enogastronomical; for Kamyshinsky district - event, ecological; Sredneakhtuba district - ecological and agrarian, Serafimovichi - religious and ecological; Svetloyarsky district - religious, recreational and militarypatriotic; Gorodishchensky - military memorial agro-industrial, Ilovlinsky - ethnographic, Kalachevsky - military-patriotic; Pallasovsky - recreational and ethnographic component of rural tourism.