Strategic potential of a destination: Assessments for the Russian Far Eastr

Purpose: based on the authors’ methodology for assessing the strategic potential of a destination, to determine the priority types of tourism and recreational activities in the regions of the Russian Far East.
Methods: the study is based on the theory of strategy, which assumes a consistency of values and interests of all participants in the strategy development process and compliance with the hierarchy of strategy. The information background for identifying the values and interests of all actors in the tourism market in the region was provided by regulatory and legal documents of a strategic level coordinating the tourism complex of the Far Eastern Federal District. The Federal Tourism Interregional Scheme of Territorial and Spatial Planning of the Russian Federation was used to combine the priority types of tourism and recreational activities outlined in regional strategic documents into consolidated types. The strategic potential of a destination was assessed using the index method with a wide range of indicators.
Results: based on the analysis of domestic and foreign theoretical approaches to the concept of "tourist and recreational potential" of a territory and methods for its assessment, the authors introduced the concept of "strategic potential of a destination" and proposed a methodology for assessing it. The methodology has been tested on the materials of the Far Eastern Federal District based on the data of 2023. The obtained assessments of the strategic potential of the destination by types of tourism and recreational activities make it possible to substantiate the strategic directions of tourism development in the subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District and to identify the discrepancy between the declared goals and the available resources and competitive advantages of the regions. The authors propose recommendations for adjusting the promising tourism specializations of the regions outlined in the industry program documents.
Conclusions and Relevance: the assessment results obtained by the authors' methodology showed the insufficiency of economic incentives and financial resources to transforming the competitive advantages of the territory into strategic priorities for tourism development. It is advisable to concentrate resources on those subjects of the macroregion that have the maximum number of competitive advantages for developing the tourism complex. The assessment of the strategic potential of the destination made it possible to single out Primorsky, Kamchatka and Khabarovsk Krai, Sakhalin Oblast, and the Republic of Buryatia as such perspective ones.

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