THE HISTORIC CITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN AS A BASIS FOR REGIONAL TOURISM CLUSTER

The authors of the article propose the hypothesis, that tourism cluster influence on the economy is primarily determined by its organizational and functional effectiveness. Location and territorial organization of tourism cluster objects are becoming the key factors. The use of the above mentioned approach to the territorial organization of the tourism cluster allows to solve the problem of tourism cluster spacial and territorial planning as well as the issue of optimizing cluster's companies location. Small towns account for the most numerous urban settlements group in the world. Moreover they form a stable category which is a vital element of a modern urban framework. Even nowadays small and medium-sized towns have preserved their historic and ethnographic identity unlike large cities. The article considers a town as an object of a potential tourism and recreation activity. Its research could be presented in the form of a model, where urban environment is given as a scheme of a "polarized landscape", provided by B.B. Rodoman. The research have resulted in the identification of the following tourism clusters in the Tatarstan Republic: Prekazanskiy complex tourism cluster (Arsk, Kazan, Laishevo, Sviyazhsk); Prekamskiy tourism cluster (Elabuga, Mendeleevsk, Mensilinsk, Mamadysh, Chistopol); Zakamsky tourism cluster (Bugulma, Leninogorsk, Almetievsk); Bolgarskiy tourism cluster (Bolgar, Tetyushy).