TOURIST ROUTE NETWORK OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CURRENT SITUATION

Creation, organization and functioning of tourist routes is the basis of the implementation of the tourist potential of areas and objects. However, in the Russian Federation there wasn't carried a comprehensive and full-scale studies of the condition of the tourist route network yet. To conduct the study used a situational and systemic approaches and methods of mathematics and statistics, survey, comparison, analysis and synthesis, abstraction, induction and deduction [1, 8, 10]. This Article presents the results a study of the Russian Federation tourist route network. In order to gather and organize information about tourist routes, there was developed a form of tourist route consisting above 11 blocks and 61 questions: basic details, consumers, the frequency of operation and limits the means and methods of transportation, food and accommodation services, personnel, cost parameters, notes and other information. The Forms Using has been carried to collect information on six thousands tourist routes of the Russian Federation, which had been kept a single database. Generalized information on the subjects of the Russian Federation (regions), the Federal District, on inter-regional routes the information collected and processed separately. According to a study in the Russian Federation on the number of routes dominated intra regional ones. However, interregional routes serve important functions Integration of tourist potential of the area. The most developed route network in the Central Federal District is and the least - in the North Caucasus. By category dominated by cognitive, educational, and environmental and sport routes. There is a weak orientation in the tourist firms in particular consumer base as consumers are schoolchildren and students. Dominated a small length routes and up to two days, inclusive seasonality characteristic of only 1/5 of the routes. There is a poor use of food services and accommodation of tourists. The findings reveal the current state of the tourism route network of the Russian Federation, which gives the materials to conduct based policies in this field, as well as the choice of strategic direction and design of new tourist products for the tourist business. Formed database of tourist routes offers great opportunities to inform the subjects of tourist areas of the country and foreign countries (including tourists) on specific tourism products and their properties, creating a basis for further tourism in the Russian Federation.