The Post-Soviet period in the history of tourism development in Russia: cardinal transformations and features of development

Shulgina Ol'ga Professor, Chair of the Department of Geography and Tourism at Moscow City Teachers’ Training University 129226, Russia, g. Moscow, pr-d 2-I sel'skokhozyaistvennyi, 4 olga_shulgina@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Shul'gina Dar'ya Pavlovna PhD in Art History Associate Professor, Department of General and Russian History, State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education of the City of Moscow "Moscow City Pedagogical University" 129226, Russia, Moscow, 2nd agricultural passage, 4 fsvids@yandex.ru

The relevance of this study is due to insufficient historical understanding of the thirty-year period of post-Soviet tourism development in Russia. Despite the fact that during this period many works were published devoted to the study of various aspects of tourist activity ^{[1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 24, 33 etc.]}, the role of cultural heritage in the development of tourism ^{[11, 14, 29, 30, 31, 32]}, factors and regional peculiarities of tourism development ^{[21, 23]}, the importance of tourism in the country's economy ^{[2, 3, 9, 13, 20]}, a generalizing idea of the history of the formation of tourism in Russia after the collapse of the USSR has not yet been presented.

The article is devoted to the study of the post-Soviet period of tourism development in Russia (from 1991 to the present). The subject of the study is the factors and features of the formation and development of tourist activity in post-Soviet Russia. On the basis of documentary and literary sources, the peculiarity of post-Soviet tourism is characterized. The research is based on historical-genetic, historical-geographical, problem-analytical and retrospective methods, as well as the method of system-structural analysis.

The main contribution of the authors to the study of the topic: the periodization of the development of Russian tourism of the first thirty years of the post-Soviet era, the characteristics of each of the periods, the identification of the specifics of the use of pre-revolutionary and Soviet cultural heritage in tourism, new cultural objects and traditions of the post-Soviet period. It is shown that tourism of the post-Soviet period has become an actively developing branch of the economy, involving various groups of the population in its sphere, contributing to the search for regional brands and new opportunities for using cultural heritage objects in tourism activities.

The novelty of the study is to identify the main features and main stages of tourism development in post-Soviet Russia. The main aspects of scientific research in tourism are considered and the contribution of representatives of various sciences is revealed. The role of the import substitution trend in the development of domestic tourism and in the implementation of the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia is shown. The first results of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of Russian tourism are presented.

The cardinal socio-economic and political transformations that took place in the post-Soviet period in our country, which influenced changes in the living conditions of the population, its mobility both within the state and at the interstate level, predetermined the explosive growth in demand for tourist services and the rapid development of the tourist business. The urgent need for the training of professional personnel in the field of tourism has contributed to the emergence and wide dissemination of specialized educational institutions and educational programs on tourism in non-core universities and colleges. Scientific research on various aspects of tourism development has become very popular. The attractiveness of Russia for foreign tourists has increased significantly, which was largely facilitated by the development of infrastructure, positive changes in the appearance of cities and other places of interest; the inclusion of Russian natural and historical and cultural sites in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The development of tourism in the period under review was carried out in a very difficult socio-economic and geopolitical situation, in conditions of significant differentiation of the standard of living of the population both in different social groups and in different territories. Nevertheless, it can be noted that in the post-Soviet period, the need for tourism and the involvement of the country's population in tourism have grown significantly; the variety of types of tourism has increased; the contribution of tourism to the development of the economy has increased. All these processes took place gradually and their progressive course was interrupted by objective factors, which primarily include economic and geopolitical crises and problems. In this context, the considered period of tourism development is heterogeneous, which implies the allocation of several stages in it.  

According to the results of this study, four stages are clearly distinguished in the development of Russian tourism in the post-Soviet period, each of which played an important role in the formation of the uniqueness of tourist activity in our country:

Stage I – 1991-1995 – the beginning of cardinal transformations in tourism management and the explosive activity of the population in the development of foreign tourist routes.

Stage II – 1996-2014 – search for opportunities for the development of domestic regional tourism using foreign experience, along with the continuing trend of the population's development of foreign tourist routes.

Stage III – 2014-2019 – import substitution in tourism in conditions of instability of the geopolitical situation and strengthening of state support for domestic domestic tourism as a driver of socio-economic development of regions.

Stage IV – from 2020 – tourism development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic period.

At the first stage, in 1991-1995, changes in the tourism management system began: trade unions lost their importance in its organization – trade union tourism ceased to exist. The state budget has practically stopped allocating funds to support the tourism industry, and the care of its development has passed to private entrepreneurs and investors. The state policy no longer concerned the sphere of amateur tourism, which, due to the fall in the incomes of the majority of the population, ceased to show growth.

At the same time, due to the democratization of Russian society, the opening of borders, and the adaptation of the population to new conditions of economic development, a new trend has emerged in the development of tourism: the rapid growth of outbound tourism and a reduction in the growth rate and even a drop in the volume of domestic tourism. 

 In 1993-1995, the departure of Russian citizens abroad significantly exceeded the return flow: in 1993 - 1.6 times, in 1994 - 2.2 times, in 1995 - 2.1 times ^[33].

It should be noted that at the beginning of the period under review, the majority of the economically and socially self-sufficient Russian population, who had been in the closed Soviet tourist space for a long time, actively joined the international tourism system. This in turn led to a number of negative consequences for the development of domestic domestic tourism: the advantages in the organization, comfort level, and variety of services provided by foreign tour operators were clearly revealed, which involved an increasing number of Russian citizens in foreign tourist trips.

The advantages of the foreign tourism industry have become a serious incentive to the development of domestic tourism in Russia: the experience of foreign travel companies was studied and actively introduced into domestic practice; new organizational forms and routes were being searched for, the modernization of the infrastructure of Russian tourism began, counting not only on residents of the country, but also on foreign guests.

In the new Russian leadership, there was a growing understanding of the important role of tourism in the economic development of the country and the existing economically inexpedient disproportion in the availability, on the one hand, of a rich and diverse cultural and natural heritage and, on the other, of its weak popularization and low use in domestic and international tourism. In the development of this branch of the economy, Russia lagged significantly behind many countries, primarily Western ones. One of the most important reasons for this lag was the poor development of tourism infrastructure along with the low standard of living of Russians.

Gradually, a system or model of state management of tourism in the new Russia was formed, the transformation of which continued in the following stages. Initially, in a short period of 1992, tourism was considered in relation to culture (for the first time in the history of the country, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was established), from 1992 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, it was managed within the framework of sports departments, from 2000 to 2004 and from 2018 to 2020 G. – The Department of Tourism worked as part of the Ministry of Economic Development, and from 2004 to 2008 and to the present, the Federal Agency for Tourism operates under direct subordination to the Government of the Russian Federation (Table 1).

Table 1

Formation of state tourism management bodies in Russia since 1992

Date

Culture and tourism as two interrelated phenomena, two spheres of activity, of which tourism, the most connected with the economy, became one of its fastest growing industries in the post-Soviet period. At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. private entrepreneurship has been actively developing in Russian tourism.

At the end of the twentieth century – at the first stage of transformation – active training of personnel in the higher education system of Russia in tourism began. Created in 1995 . The University of Tourism and Service for the first time opened the specialty "Tourism". Later, such a specialty appeared in many, even non-core universities, which was caused by both the needs of practice and high competitions among applicants who actively sought to become professionals in an acutely demanded field ^{[5, 12]}.

The beginning of the second stage of tourism development in the post-Soviet period is associated with the adoption in 1996 of the Federal Law on the Basics of Tourist Activity in the Russian Federation ^[27]. This law clearly outlined the principles of state regulation of tourism activities and the recognition of tourism as one of the priority sectors of the Russian economy. The aforementioned Federal Law presents the basic concepts in the field of tourism, defines the powers of the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to create favorable conditions for the development of tourism. An important role in the development of tourism was also played by other, later adopted legislative acts: "On objects of cultural heritage (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation" No. 73-FZ dated 25.06.2002 ^[26]; Federal target Federal program "Development of domestic and outbound tourism in the Russian Federation (2011-2018)" ^[25], other government orders and resolutions ^{[17, 18]}.   This testified to the return of the state to control the activities of this sphere and the desire to use the country's tourist resources for the benefit of its further development.

Statistics characterizing the development of tourism at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, testifies to the multidirectional dynamics of its indicators in different periods (Table 2)

Table 2

The main indicators of tourism development in Russia (1995-2015) ^[22]

Since 1996, there have been radical changes in the directions of tourist flows - the incoming flow of foreign tourists began to significantly exceed the departure of domestic tourists from Russia: in 1996 - by 1.3 times, in 1997 - by 1.6 times, in 1998 - by 1.4 times" ^[33].

Thus, the initial trend of a significant predominance of outbound flows over inbound flows, which was characteristic of the first period, was reversed – the crisis phenomena in the Russian economy affected, causing a decrease in the demand of Russians for foreign tours, besides, the influx of visitors from abroad increased to Russia, as a country with relatively low prices for goods and services. countries.

From 2003 to 2014, there was a rapid growth in the volume of paid tourist services to the population, which, according to Rosstat, has increased more than eight times over the decade. This indicates not only an increase in prices and the solvency of the population, but also an increase in the demand of Russians for tourist services. At the same time, the volume of tourist services varied by region.

At the beginning of the XXI century, many new phenomena appeared in the development of tourism in our country, previously not characteristic of Russian tourism. Tourism has become a sphere of private activity. Private tourist hotels and private tour operators appeared, which began to form programs and packages of offers for foreign and domestic tourism.  At that time, and especially in 2003-2006, there was a peak of scientific research in the field of tourism, as evidenced by the data of the electronic catalog of dissertations of the Russian State Library. This coincided with the need to fill the existing vacuum in scientific research on tourism and was a kind of response to the challenge of practical tourism activities that were insufficiently scientifically secured. The leaders of such studies were economists, educators, geographers, sociologists, historians.

The number of types of tourism and the variety of tourist services provided increased. There were numerous proposals for family and individual accommodation of vacationers, proposals for hunting, fishing, sports, extreme tourism. All conditions were created for traveling by private car transport, transfers from airports and train stations to places of rest were organized, if necessary, a car with a driver was provided. The "barrack tourism" of the previous period was replaced by an individual choice of the tourist route, the type of rest and its duration. The main regulatory factor was mainly only the financial capabilities of the vacationer.

The use of new communication tools, primarily the Internet, has greatly simplified the possibilities of tourists in choosing travel companies, routes, accommodation, in buying transport tickets, etc.

The geography of tourism continued to expand. Tourist hotels and tourist routes have not only covered all regions of the country, they have already affected a significant number of small towns, rural settlements and areas of natural interest.

Previously unknown and interesting places with historical or natural value began to be of interest to the consumer. This was facilitated by the policy of forming museum-reserves and museum-estates in various regions of the country, the number of which reached 150, and about 80% of them are located in rural areas. At this stage of tourism development, the network of national parks has increased, of which there are already more than fifty in Russia. Trips to these protected areas have already become quite common; suffice it to say that museum reserves, accounting for less than 5% of museum objects, provide up to 35% of all museum visits in the country ^[30].

While tourists maintain a constant interest in visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the Caucasus, the geography of tourism has affected all other territories of the country, including small towns and rural settlements. Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk, Vologda, Kostroma, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Tver, Tula, Kaluga, Ryazan, Smolensk, Orel, Nizhny Novgorod became regional tourist centers in the European part of Russia. The tourist attractiveness of Kazan and the Republic of Tatarstan as a whole has significantly increased in recent years, a network of eight museums-reserves has been formed here, three cultural heritage sites in the region have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List (originally the Kazan Kremlin, and later the Bulgarian Historical and Archaeological Complex, the Assumption Cathedral were nominated and included in the UNESCO list islands-the city of Sviyazhsk).

Tourism development has covered many regions of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. A network of various hotels appeared on Lake Baikal, in the Altai region, in many territories of Southern Siberia, in the Primorsky Territory. Interesting tourist programs are being developed in the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, on Taimyr. Ethnographic and hunting tourism has penetrated into many regions of Siberia. The unique northern archipelagos – Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Islands (on the territory of which the Russian Arctic National Park was created) have become open to tourists.

The third stage of post-Soviet tourism development in Russia was associated with changes in the geopolitical situation in 2014 as a result of the annexation of Crimea and subsequent international sanctions. The trend of import substitution in tourism, which had already emerged at the previous stage, became dominant and turned into a kind of catalyst for the accelerated development of domestic Russian tourism. This was largely facilitated by the support of the state, which stimulates domestic tourism for different groups of the population and especially young people; tourism has become an important component of the state strategy for the spatial development of Russian regions.

In the rating of tourism development in the subjects of the Russian Federation published by the Ministry of Culture of Russia in 2017 ^[19], Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Krasnodar Territory were recognized as the leading regions of Russian tourism. The Kurgan Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug rounded out the list.

Stage IV – from 2020 – tourism development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic period. This is a crisis period of development for the entire world tourism, it also affected Russian tourism. A decrease in the general, including tourist mobility of the population in conditions of coronavirus restrictions; closure of borders; reduction of income; general changes in the level and lifestyle negatively affected the development of tourism, almost simultaneously turning it into one of the crisis industries. This, on the one hand, slowed down the progressive development of Russian tourism and reduced the involvement of the Russian population in tourism, on the other hand, gave an incentive to introduce creative solutions in the tourism sector to subsequently meet the accumulated deferred demand.

The analysis of the post-Soviet period of the tourist development of Russia allowed us to draw the following conclusions:

- in the post-Soviet period, the approach to the organization of tourist services was completely changed. This sphere has ceased to be public and began to be formed at the expense of private investment and private entrepreneurship;

- tourism has begun to play an important role in the economy and social development of territories; for a number of regions, it has actually become a branch of specialization, an impulse for the development of the regional economy as a whole;

- the geography of tourism has been significantly expanded; hotels, motels, guest houses and other tourist accommodation facilities have appeared not only in all regions of the country, but also in small towns and rural areas, a variety of tourist services and saturation of the domestic market have been provided;

- priorities in the historical and cultural heritage that are important for tourists' perception have changed significantly; the approach to preserving heritage in its integrity and diversity without regard to ideological preferences, class or religious worldview has become the leading one; everything that determines the cultural identity of a country or a particular region, including intangible heritage, cultural landscape, ethno-cultural traditions, is gradually becoming valuable etc .;

- the level of tourist information support has increased quantitatively and qualitatively; the number of cartographic publications, guidebooks, local history literature has increased immeasurably compared to the previous period; modern communication technologies, electronic tourist publications and websites that allow obtaining any detailed information on issues of interest to tourists have become a fundamentally new phenomenon;

- we can talk about a high degree of satisfaction with the existing demand of the population for services of both domestic and outbound tourism; further increase in demand, the involvement of additional contingents of the population in the tourist movement largely depends not on the state of the material base of the industry, but on increasing the effective demand of the population and improving its standard of living;

- the COVID-19 pandemic in the first year had a negative impact on the development of Russian tourism, but at the same time contributed to the accumulation of efforts to introduce new forms of tourist activity, modernization of the tourism sector in anticipation of post-COVID tourist activity of the population for a new saturation of deferred demand.

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