POTENTIAL OF ALTAI REGION FOR RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Altai Krai is one of the promising regions of Russia for tourism development. The region has unique natural, cultural, historical, and archaeological sites. Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists come to the region. According to the Department for Tourism Development and Resort Activities of Altai Krai, there are more than 180 guest houses and estates in Altai Krai, and 130,000 tourists visited Altai Krai for rural tourism. During Altai Krai study of the tourist resources for the purpose of developing rural tourism, the main areas were identified where rural tourism is already the most developed: Altai, Soloneshensky, Charyshsky, Zmeinogorsky, Kuryinsky, Sovetsky, Soltonsky, Smolensky, Krasnogorsky, Bystroistoksky, Romanovsky, and Zavyalovsky. To identify consumer preferences for rural tourism services, a study was conducted on the relevance and attractiveness of rural tourism, a detailed analysis of tourism and recreational resources was carried out in the Altai Territory providing rural tourism services, popular areas of rural tourism development were analyzed, and an author's weekend tour was developed. There are prospects for the development of rural tourism, but this requires serious financial support from the state to maintain the infrastructure of the village and the rural resident providing rural tourism services. Rural tourism can bring considerable profit to the regional treasury, but to attract a large tourist flow, it is important to make the holidays high-quality, help with the organization of promotion of tourist services and training of personnel