THE CONCEPT OF “SOUL ECOLOGY” THROUGH THE PRISM OF “FAIRY-TALE TOURISM”: THE REGIONAL CASES OF RUSSIA

The article notes that the modern world is on the verge of environmental crisis. This is due to the moral and spiritual crisis of humanity and a consumer attitude to nature. Against this background, the public increasingly began to turn to the idea of soul ecology, or “protection of the soul from pollutions”. Expertly-organized tourism can educate a responsible person. Usually the ecology of the soul associated with eco-tourism. But the authors believe that a fairy-tale tourism can be also engaged in moral and spiritual upbringing with great success. The article analyzes the domestic experience of creating a fairy-tale tourism infrastructure, identifies strengths and weaknesses of this work in different regions of Russia, and presents the information about the possibility of fabulous tourism development in the framework of the project “Fairytale Map of Russia”. The authors study organizational aspect of the problem, and reveal the most effective methods of popularization of the fairy-tale direction of tourism and the proven ways of involving tourists in the fairy-tale environment. The article characterizes the factors negative affecting the fabulous tourism development. The authors found out that not all regions, identified in the project “Fairytale Map of Russia” and oriented to travel in a fairy tale, have managed to organize tourist flows. This happens mainly due to the small number of thematic objects and the inability to create routes, but also because of the lack of interactive programs. Special attention is paid to the state of fabulous infrastructure in Ufa, the capital Bashkiria. Ufa – small motherland of S. T. Aksakov, the author of the famous tale “The Scarlet flower”. This fact became the basis to include our city in the project “Fairytale Map of Russia” as “the house” of the scarlet flower. However, Ufa is one of the cities, having solitary monuments of fabulous characters who are unable to determine the prospects of development of regional fairy-tale tourism. In addition, Ufa has not yet engaged in the creation of interactive programs, providing a high level of interest in the fairy-tale tourism.

PROSPECTS FOR THE ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ZABAIKALSKY NATIONAL PARK

The Russian Federation has developed network of different natural protected territories and significant potential for ecotourism development. Ecotourism should be considered as a priority type of tourism for Baikal natural territory. Zabaikalsky National Park is one of the few reserves in Russia, which in its natural settings fully meet the UNESCO criteria. The recreation nature use is developing rapidly in the park in the last ten years. Tourism is often spontaneous. Such development with the lack of organizational events caused several problems associated with the disruption of ecosystems. There is no organized and equipped routes, including ecological routes, where the tourists could explore the landscapes and components of the park. It’s necessary to equip the most popular areas of the park and to develop routes for of different types of tourists to reduce the recreational digression in the most popular tourist places. Any offers of nature protected territories development must correspond to the ecological capacity of natural objects, which depends on a set of parameters. The authors offer several actions to develop ecotourism in one of the most popular area “Monakhovo – Zmeevaya bay” to provide the high level of safety and comfort of eco-routs and to minimize the impact on nature.

POLICY OF RATIONAL USE OF RECREATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE BAIKAL REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XX CENTURY

The problem of preserving the environment is still relevant for the world scientific community. In the Russian Federation, the system of specially protected natural areas is a traditional and effective form of environmental protection. The development and improvement of the specially protected natural areas network guarantees that the Russian Federation fulfills its international obligations in the field of environmental protection. An effectively functioning system of specially protected natural areas serves as a framework for ecological stability and ensures sustainable socio-economic development of the country. There is much tension around the issue of coordination of further socio-economic development and environmental protection in many regions (especially in territories with ecological restrictions because of the exceptional value of their natural resources). In the market economy environment regions have to provide effective spatial development of the territory, including specially protected natural areas. At the same time, there is a problem of increasing anthropogenic impact on protected ecosystems caused by the tourism development. This task requires special attention due to insufficient coverage. In this regard, the study of Soviet experience in tourism management in restricted conditions of natural resource use comes into sharp focus. The article considers specific features of tourism management by the party-state and trade union in the restricted conditions of natural resource use in the Baikal region in the 1960s–1980s. The author gives a brief historiographic review of the problem under study. The article deals with the process of implementing the policy of rational use of recreational resources in the Baikal region. Handling the problem of improving of tourist-recreational nature management and ecological compatibility is specified for different levels.

THE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SPECIALLY PROTECTED NATURAL TERRITORIES OF KRASNODAR KRAI

Ehe article is devoted to the ecological tourism development in especially protected natural territories of Krasnodarskiy region. It was noted that this type of tourism belongs to the synthetic category integrating many different types of tourism, based primarily on the preservation of the environment. The ecotourism sites include a variety of natural and cultural components of the state property, which require special treatment and management. The authors review environmental types of tourism, which include such areas as ecological tourism, scientific expeditions and tours, ecological tours on specially protected natural areas, active and educational trips, excursions on ecological trails with different goals, summer camps and recreation, tourism associated with business meetings. Regional protected areas in Krasnodar region have great development prospects for ecotourism activities because of its location in the natural environment that have significant natural attractiveness. The authors discuss the categories of especially protected natural territories of federal, regional and local significance. The article studies the provisions of the practice of ecological tourism at the international level, its principles and main tasks. The authors analyze the ecotourism activities in national natural and regional landscape parks, biosphere reserves of Krasnodar region, and reveale the prospects for tourism development in these areas. The article studies the natural recreational resources of the regional system of specially protected natural territories in the region, as well as analyzes the factors restraining the active development of ecological tourism.

ON THE ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF TOURISM PRODUCTS WITHIN THE ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFETY TOURISM IN THE BAIKAL REGION

Assessing the quality of tourism product and services is a topical issue in science and practice. It takes a special role in regions with a unique and valuable nature (such as the Baikal natural territory), which requires careful and environmental friendly treatment. With all the variety of research experiences and practices on the subject, we can observe a set of problematic issues, such as the need to take specifics of tourism into account, insufficient attention to the peculiarities of the territory of application, etc. The article is aimed at development of methods for assessing the quality of tourism products within environment friendly tourism in the Baikal region. Modeling, comparative, estimation, sociological, mathematical, and statistical are the main methods of research. The author uses the systematic, complex, ecological, geographical and situational approaches. The methodology for assessing the quality of tourism products is proposed to be connected not only with customer satisfaction, but also with ecological, satisfaction of partners, society, producers and their personnel. Assessing from the consumer standpoint is accomplished by the following groups of criteria: purpose, reliability, safety, professionalism of personnel and economic. The author suggests the ways of obtaining initial estimates. The form of the issues presentation ensures their ergonomics. Estimation scales of the methodology take into account not only the perceived quality of the tourism product by individual criteria, but also their relevance to the subject of the assessment. The procedures of calculation of an integrated indicator of assessment is the weighted average. The combination of structured and comprehensive system of estimation criteria with the possibility of assessment in relation to a single database, makes it possible to create an unified system for assessing the quality of tourism products at the regional level.

ECOTOURISM IN RUSSIA: MAIN DESTINATIONS AND TOURIST ARRIVALS

The concept of “ecological tourism” both in the world and in Russia has appeared in the second half of the twentieth century, although people traveled with natural-focused purposes, including around the protected areas, much earlier. The article presents several definitions of ecotourism, including the two given by the authors. The authors note that ecotourism can be developed in two ways: as a journey on any remaining natural areas or as tour, excursion exclusively within specially protected natural areas (SPNA). The second option is successfully developed in many Englishspeaking countries. The article confirms this fact using the original modern data on the dynamics of visits to the most famous national parks in the USA. Based on the analysis of literature and Internet sources it is concluded that the governance of the Russian Federation considers it necessary to develop eco-tourism in our country according to the second “North American” concept. In this case, the people attending the state protected areas – national parks and reserves with educational and recreational goals should be considered as eco-tourists. Based on this assumption the authors of the article give modern official data concerning the number of specially protected areas of different types in Russia as main destinations of ecotourism. The article presents the diagrams showing the quantitative characteristics of the infrastructure for ecotourists in specially protected areas: visitor centers, museums, ecological paths and routes. The dynamics of tourist arrivals in the reserves and national parks of Russia for the period 2001-2016 years is analyzed. In the final part of the article the main problems of eco-tourists recording are identified.

THE TOURISM AND INFRASTRUCTURE POTENTIAL OF ECOLOGICAL TOURISM IN COUNTRYSIDE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MORDOVIA

The article studies the reasons for the emergence of ecological tourism, while attention is drawn to the rather favorable ecological situation in rural areas. Considering the interest of urban residents in recreation in rural areas, the article considers the possibility of organizing ecotourism in terms of providing these territories with infrastructure facilities. The notions “tourist infrastructure” and “infrastructure potential” are disclosed, the peculiarities of the tourist infrastructure in rural areas are characterized and such an important element as the ecological infrastructure is singled out. The tourism and infrastructure potential is one of the components of the infrastructure potential. The authors propose the system of indicators for its evaluation. Among the main indicators of the tourism and infrastructure potential, the article considers collective accommodation facilities, public catering facilities, transport availability of the districts, the forest cover of the territory, the density of the river network, etc. The conclusion is that the tourist infrastructure is extremely unevenly distributed in the regions of Mordovia, which reduces the tourist and infrastructure potential of rural regions, their attractiveness for the organization of ecological tourism, even in the presence of favorable natural and other prerequisites. The results the cluster analysis is division of all the regions of the republic into 4 groups according to the level of the tourist-infrastructural potential: low (up to 10), medium (10.1 to 15.0), above average (15.1 to 20.0) and high (over 20). Based on the research results of the authors have designed a map, reflecting the level of the tourist-infrastructural potential of the districts. The tourist-infrastructure potential of the republic is not fully used. In many areas there is a wide range of potentially attractive tourist sites, but their use for tourism and recreational is impossible without the creating necessary infrastructure.

HOW DID A COMMON MAN “READ” NATURE IN RUSSIAN FOLK TRADITIONAL CULTURE

The article sets the problem referring to ecology of culture, particularly its Russian national type, that is Russian folk traditional culture. The research has several levels: how the man got adapted to nature surroundings by means of traditions, customs and folklore; what the nature-surviving actions are included into the forms of Russian folk traditional culture; how contacts and perception of nature perfected and developed spiritual content of life; where and how archaic form of mentality and universal meaning met in Russian folk traditions and customs; when this universal meaning de- serves inclusion into modern ecological mentality. The ecological mentality of a common man is presented in various forms of folklore; material forms, particularly clothes, interior of houses, labor tools and crafts. The ecological mentality is firmly interwoven in behavior, where poetic feelings in perception of nature stand in dialogue with playing activity. The main conclusion of analyzing ecological mentality in Russian folk traditional culture is that any artificial intermediate objects between man and nature were removed. The contemporary way of life interpreted it as archaic. In “folk book of nature” man’s attention to nature tokens, including all members, big and minute, in surroundings is very important. This part of ecological mentality in Russian folk traditional culture can be defined as “folk meteorology”, transferred by oral tradition; partly it gave folklore items, partly got lost due to changes in nature because of human activity; but there is still a portion that keeps true.

THE CONCEPT OF «ECOLOGICAL TOURISM» IN THE WORLD AND RUSSIAN PRACTICE: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND CASES

The article is focused on the ecotourism from the point of view of the ecological paradigm, the ecological imperative and the concept of natureuse. Based on the methodology of comparative analysis, the research experience in the field of ecotourism in foreign scientific practice is considered. It is noted that one of the fundamental problems of ecotourism is ambiguity and breadth of its interpretations and definitions. The authors consider controversial questions about the destructive function inherent in ecotourism, and outline the problem of its mythologization, the “crisis of legitimacy”, and the formation of the phenomenon of “eco-colonialism”. The article raises a problematic question about the discussion of the concept of ecotourism as kind of tourism, and substantiates the expediency of its positioning as an organizational form of the tourism industry. Within the framework of the discussion on components and the classification of ecotourism, the authors present their classification of ecotourism types depending on the motivation factors and quantity of tourists. On this basis, the authors distinguish three form-clusters of ecotourism, including 16 of its types. The problem of integration of ecotourism scientific schools of different countries is considered. The article considers the cases of the world experience of ecotourism and Russian practices of organization of this form of activity. The authors describe the principles for elaborating the ecological tourism marketing strategy of the Volga region. This region has huge potential for ecotourism development in the country, and its rich positive experience in this field can be taken as a basis for developing this kind of tourism activity in other regions of the country. The authors make conclusion about the necessity and urgency of a radical review of composition scheme and conceptual understanding of the phenomenon of ecotourism, which should become a paradigm of the whole tourism sphere, the basis for its further growth and development both in Russia and in the world.

THE “GREEN” TOURISM DEVELOPMENT FACTORS

Difficulties states faced in the implementing the sustainable development concept, the new challenges caused by financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 which are considered by most experts as the systemic one, require serious modernization of the sustainable socio-economic development strategies on all management levels. Search for the ways of the strategies adjustment and new mechanisms of their implementation has resulted in the fundamental change of the economic model, the transition from “brown” to “green” economy based on the principles of economic security, the resources efficiency and social justic International organizations such as the United Nations Organization (UN), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) consider tourism to be one of the ten key sectors of the global economy which green innovative modernization is able to ensure the transition to the new economic model and “green” economic growth. The analysis of the results of the international and national structures’ activity aimed at the greening of the global economy and tourism lets us make the following conclusions. Firstly, there are still some research, theoretical and methodological problems linked with setting aims, objectives, and conditions for green economy transition, with the development of com- mon system of indicators and indexes for the assessment of the achievements of the countries. Secondly, Russia’s active role in the processes will not only ensure the ecological security of its socio-economic development, but will determine competitiveness of the Russian economy and tourism as its sector in the long run. The active role, in its turn, involves the creation of scientifically proven target system, the green strategies for socio-economic development, the arrangement of conditions, techniques and tools for their implementation. The article analyzes the basic factors and conditions for the transition to the green economy and greening of tourism industry in Russia.