THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF TOURISM
ATTRACTIVENESS AND ITS ESTIMATION
BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF
TATARSTAN
Gulnara Faridovna Valeeva
Kazan Federal University Institute of Management, Economics and Finance,
Kazan, Russia
Oleg Aleksandrovich Bunakov
Kazan Federal University Institute of Management, Economics and Finance,
Kazan, Russia
Boris Moishevich Eidelman
Kazan Federal University Institute of Management, Economics and Finance,
Kazan, Russia
Liliya Raisovna Fakhrutdinova
Kazan Federal University Institute of Management, Economics and Finance,
Kazan, Russia
E-mail: gfvaleeva@gmail.com
Recepción: 05/08/2019 Aceptación: 20/09/2019 Publicación: 23/10/2019
Citación sugerida:
Valeeva, G.F., Bunakov, O.A., Eidelman, B.M. y Fakhrutdinova, L.R. (2019). Theoretical
aspects of tourism attractiveness and its estimation by the example of the Republic of
Tatarstan. 3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. Edición Especial, Octubre 2019,
360-373. doi: https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctic.2019.83-2.360-373
Suggested citation:
Valeeva, G.F., Bunakov, O.A., Eidelman, B.M. & Fakhrutdinova, L.R. (2019). Theoretical
aspects of tourism attractiveness and its estimation by the example of the Republic of
Tatarstan. 3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. Special Issue, October 2019,
360-373. doi: https://doi.org/10.17993/3ctic.2019.83-2.360-373
3C TIC. Cuadernos de desarrollo aplicados a las TIC. ISSN: 2254-6529
362
ABSTRACT
The article presents the analysis of theoretical approaches to the study of a
tourism attractiveness of the region and its elements. Tourism attractiveness
of the region is dened as a multi-layered concept reecting the totality of the
subjective and objective characteristics of the region that inuence the results
of tourist activities and determine the position of the region for the subjects of
tourist activities. Presently, the tourism industry is one of the most signicant
sectors in the development of the region: being aware of it, the state promotes the
formation and development of tourism and provides a supportive environment
for its development, thereby ensuring the implementation of socially-oriented
functions. The management practice of developing the tourism attractiveness
of Russian regions should take account of the commercial interests of various
business areas, the priorities of state policy and the cultural needs of society.
In order to strengthen the tourism appeal, the regions include the development
of a set of various actions into the agenda, one of the keys is to form a positive
attitude towards the territory and its recognition – regional branding. The
Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most promising tourist centers of Russia which
actively develops the tourism sector and increases its quantitative indicators and
implements large-scale and ambitious projects that improve the tourist attraction.
KEYWORDS
Tourism, Tourism attractiveness, Region, Regional development, Branding.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Today, tourism industry as a highly remunerative and fastest growing economic
realm takes on greater and greater importance in the development of individual
regions, contributing to the preservation of social and cultural potential and
authentic values, natural landscapes and ecosystems of various territories.
Being a relatively independent industry, the tourism industry provides a deep
integration of social relation and social mobility. Currently in Russia, the tourism
industry is at the stage of institutional formation and structural modernization
of the tourism infrastructure, the formation of a stable basis for inter-sectoral
interaction.
2. METHODOLOGY
The methodological framework of the research is represented by a systematic
approach to the study of tourism appeal, its elements in their interconnection
and interdependence, the method of analysis and synthesis of legal and scientic
literature, statistical data.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The treatment of the essence of the concept “tourism appeal of the regions”
should be explored by a multi-stage approach, which includes the study of
the following concepts: “tourism”, “tourism attractiveness” and “tourism
attractiveness of the region”.
Exploring the concept of “tourism”, we can single out the basic denitions that
most fully describe this eld of activity.
Buzulukova considers tourism as a temporary movement of people in their free
time for recreation, health-improving, educational or business purposes but if
they have no work to be paid.
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Glagoleva outlines the denition briey, thereby revealing the basic essence of
the concept, that is, tourism is the departure of a consumer of travel services, not
related to extraction of prot.
Kabirov (2016) treats tourism as a set of relationships and services that are
associated with a voluntary and temporary change of residence by a traveler for
non-professional or non-commercial reasons.
Motyshina in her writings speaks of the essence of tourism more broadly, arguing
that it is an economic system with various links between individual elements
within the framework of tourist activities.
Rozanova in her writings points to a spiritual part of the tourist sphere, considering
tourism as a method of cognition by society of the natural resources and cultural
wealth created by nature and humanity.
Sukhanova interprets tourism as a rather complex and multifaceted phenomenon,
including social practice, leisure, a special form of consumption, a major cultural
phenomenon.
Making a summary of these terms, the concept of “tourism” can be dened as
a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, which encapsulates a variety of social
relations arising between a large number of subjects and objects in the eld of
tourism, the consumers of which are the individuals who temporarily change
their place of residence in order to have a rest.
The study of the concept of tourism appeal is based on the analysis of the
following denitions:
Kalashnikova & Khanakhok (2015) dene tourism attractiveness as a complex
activity reecting travel package, potential, destination culture, tourist place and
other industry indicators.
Neterin (2018) considers tourism attractiveness through the lens of the relationship
between possible and existing elements and tourist demand.
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As a result, it is possible to put these concepts together and formulate a
comprehensive denition of tourism attractiveness as one based on the analysis
of the presence of a possible adequate tourism oer, the ability of an object
of the sphere of tourism to attract positive attention, to generate interest and
repeated demand:
Figure 1. The Essence of the Concept “Tourism Attractiveness”.
The concept of tourism attractiveness is considered by many authors in the
context of territories, therefore, it is further expedient to explore the essence of
the concept of region’s tourism appeal.
Likhanina in her works considers tourism attractiveness in relation to the
territorial aspect, claiming that it is an element of the competitiveness of the
region, its brand and investment potential.
Bunakov (2016) forms the concept of tourism attractiveness of the territory
through estimating by potential tourists the ability of the region to meet their
needs for recreational, medical and health, professional and business, educational,
physical culture and sports, religious and other purposes.
Cheberko interprets tourism appeal of the territory as a combination of various
factors that contribute to its high competitiveness in the struggle of tourists of
various target groups.
Thus, the tourism attractiveness of the region is a multidimensional concept
that reects the totality of its subjective and objective characteristics aecting
the results of tourist activities, and subsequently determining the position of the
region for various subjects of touristic activities (considering the resource and
infrastructure potential, as well as social institutional risks).
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The role and relationship of tourism attractiveness of the region with elements
of regional development is presented schematically in Figure 2:
Figure 2. Tourism Attractiveness in Regional Management System. Source: (Tsurtsilina, 2016).
Being a subject of management, the state should recognize the tourism industry
as one of the leading sectors of regional development, promote the formation
of tourism throughout the territory and create the mechanisms for its eective
development.
The formation and development of the tourism appeal of the region is the
activity of management entities concerning the determination, generation and
achievement of certain objectives and indicators that inuence the results of the
tourism industry and estimate the rating of the region for the subjects of tourism
activity.
Today, in order to develop tourism, any territory includes the elaboration of
various activities to the development plan, of which the formation of a positive
attitude towards the territory and its recognition – regional branding – grows in
popularity. Positioning a positive image of the territory, which is based on the
uniqueness of the tourist object, becomes the actual principle of the formation
and development of the branded tourist territory (Eidelman et al., 2018).
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The purpose of managing the development of tourism attractiveness of the
territory is the formation, generation and development of territorial branding,
which is revealed in the formation of competitive or special advantages of a
particular region over other regions, as well as the improvement of its image as
a tourist destination. The main task in managing the development of tourism
appeal of the territory is the creation of such conditions that will attract potential
consumers of travel services by increasing in the tourist ow in general.
Strengthening the tourism appeal of the Russian regions includes the areas on
which the mechanisms of inuence of management practices are oriented, both
from the state and regional commercial enterprises. Let us represent the main
types of development factors for management practices of improving on Russian
regions’ image as a tourist destination:
• Creation of tourism image;
• Development of sports, event, conference and business tourism;
• Expansion of recreational potential;
• Development of accommodation business;
• Improvement of tourist-excursion service and transport service;
• Innovations in the eld of entertainment.
Currently, in Russia there is a state project “The Strategy for the Development of
Tourism in the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2020”, which is a driver in
the development of territories and the link between the three parties concerned:
Cultural needs of
the population
The priorities
of the state
Components of
the management
mechanism
The interests of the
business structures
Figure 3. Interrelated Parties in the Management Practice of Strengthening the Tourism Attractiveness
of the Russian Regions.
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The management practice of strengthening the tourism appeal of the Russian
regions should consider the commercial interests of various business structures,
the priorities of the state policy and cultural needs of the society.
The Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most vibrant regions of the Russian
Federation in relation to economics and tourism. In terms of gross regional
product, the Republic of Tatarstan ranks 6th among the regions of Russia (in
2018 it amounted to 2115.5 billion rubles, or 102.8% in comparable prices to
the level of 2017). The main contribution to economic growth was made by
industrial production, agriculture and trade.
The share of the tourism industry in the total structure of the gross regional
product of the Republic of Tatarstan for 2018 was 6.1%, the value of the share
of the tourism industry for the previous periods did not signicantly change
(Berdnikova & Ivanov, 2015).
The tourism attractiveness of the Republic of Tatarstan is constantly strengthened,
for example, for a number of previous years large-scale and ambitious projects that
contributed to attracting the ow of tourists to the region has been implemented.
Firstly, these are the projects and programs for the revival and preservation of
historical and cultural heritage in order to develop tourism and pilgrimage (the
city of Bolgar and the island city of Sviyazhsk, holding the 1000th anniversary
of Kazan in 2005 and the city of Yelabuga in 2007). Historical sights were also
restored, new objects of culture and infrastructure were built. Kazan hosted
such major events as the 27th World Summer Universiade in 2013, the World
Aquatics Championship in 2015, the Confederation Cup in 2017, the World
Football Championship in 2018. New tourist routes and destinations have
been opened which are successfully developing and are associated with rural
environmental, sports and event, gastronomic, medical, ethnographic and halal
tourisms (Eidelman et al., 2018; Niyaz et al., 2018; Bunakov & Rubtzov, 2016).
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Secondly, these are the programs aimed at creating an innovation infrastructure
within the framework of developing business (industrial) tourism. It is worth
noting the construction of Russia’s largest special economic zone “Alabuga”
in 2006, the creation of the city of Innopolis in 2015, the construction of the
international investment Technopolis “SMART City Kazan”.
Today, the Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most promising tourist centers
of Russia. Tourist ow to the republic increases on average by 8% per year,
and by 2019, an increase up to 2 million 450 thousand people is predicted. The
income of collective accommodation facilities from the rendered services in 2018
amounted to 8.7 billion rubles, which is 31.5% more than in the same period of
2017. According to the results of the rating of Russian regions for the growth of
income of hotels and similar accommodation facilities over the past 10 years, the
rating of Tatarstan has risen from the 12th place to the 4th one. The number
of foreign citizens arriving in the republic has increased by 24.3%, compared to
2017:
Year 2018
345757
278183
250506
Year 2017
Year 2016
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
people
Figure 4. The Number of Foreign Citizens Who Arrived in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2016-2018.
The dynamics of the number of guests of the Republic of Tatarstan who were
placed in collective accommodation facilities is presented in the table:
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Table 1. The Dynamics of the Number of Persons Placed in Collective Accommodation Facilities
Showing the Target Groups, Thousand People.
Name
Year
2014
Year
2015
Year
2016
Year
2017
Year
2018
Change in
2018 to
2014., %
Number of persons served
by collective accommodation
facilities, including
1759,1 1782,4 1861,2 2096 2311,1 131,4
-for business, educational and
professional purposes
557,4 533,4 653,6 765,3 851,6 152,8
- for the purpose of leisure,
recreation, vacation
733,7 855,2 947,4 1096,6 1206,2 164,4
- for treatment and prevention 140,3 136,6 153,7 151,3 162,7 116,0
- etc. 327,7 227,2 106,5 82,8 90,6 27,6
Most tourists visit the republic for the purpose of leisure activity, recreation,
vacation, as well as for business reasons. In 2018, the number of guests who
visited the Republic of Tatarstan for tourism purposes amounted to 2,311.1
thousand people, which is 131.4% more than in 2014.
The structure of the tourists of the Republic of Tatarstan according to the
purpose of the trip for 2018 is presented in Figure 5:
Business trip 37%
Leisure, recreation 52%
Etc 4%
Treatment 7%
Figure 5. The Structure of Tourists of the Republic of Tatarstan According to the Purpose of the Trip
for 2018.
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4. SUMMARY
The tourism potential of the Republic of Tatarstan characterized by a combination
of great history and rich culture of the East and West, Islam and Orthodoxy, a
good geographical location and national distinctive features should be focused on
the development of all areas of tourism that can give a signicant economic eect.
Maintaining and increasing the pace of tourism development in the Republic of
Tatarstan today is the most important strategic task of all participants of the
tourism market, as the tourism brand of Tatarstan contributes to strengthening
competitive positions, attracting investors, expanding the network of travel
business and developing the entire tourist industry on the whole.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The issues of tourism draw of the regions today are an important aspect of
regional development, this is due to its inuence on regional socio-economic
development, one of the key indicators of which is the gross regional product.
The Republic of Tatarstan is one of the most eective and successful regions of
Russia in the formation and development of travel industry. Being an economically
prosperous region, Tatarstan is constantly enhancing its competitive advantages
in the tourism industry by holding large-scale events on forming tourist loyalty,
building new demonstration facilities, places and destinations that help attract
tourist ows.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of
Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University.
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