Rural tourism and employment: the case of the Tomsk Region

Today people pay more and more attention to the issue of comprehensive study on problems of the rural zone. Apparently, one of the most acute problems of the rural zone appears to be unemployment. Lack of guaranteed permanent employment accompanied by loss in income as well as loss of life goals and prospects is one of the main causes of desocialization among villagers, rural impoverishment and involuntary migration of rural people to cities. For the purpose of this paper we have chosen the Tomsk Region, where the stated acute problems are clearly observed. The rural population size has been steadily decreasing over the last few years. The decline tends to be an average of 0.5 - 1% annually. The outflow of population to cities (especially to Tomsk) has led to the fact that the number of abandoned rural settlements in Tomsk Region has amounted to 17, that number of residents in % of the Tomsk villages varies around 500 people, that 135 villages (25% of the total number) are considered to be small with a population of up to 50 people. The stated problems appeared due to underdeveloped economy of the rural zone and, in particular, due to minimum employment opportunities for rural people in the non-agricultural sector. The measures aimed at resolving the present situation should involve development of alternative employment opportunities in the rural zone. With this in mind, we propose eco-tourism as an alternative and promising sector for perspective employment and a factor for the rural zone development as well as diversification or the rural economy. The significance and prospects of this activity are emphasized in the Tourism Development Conception of the Tomsk Region for 2008 - 2013 and in the long-term development program "Domestic and Inbound Tourism Development in the Tomsk Region for the period 2013 - 2017". However, development of rural tourism in the region encounters a number of constraints, among which we have determined the following: natural climate conditions, lack of information on rural tourism and offered tours, underdeveloped tourism infrastructure, financing problems, the low level of promotion of agricultural tourism services. It is necessary to note that these factors are restrictive but not insurmountable. The conducted analysis of the market of tourism services has revealed that only 4 out of 210 Tomsk travel companies are able to offer any agritourism products and services. According to them, the main constraints for rural tourism are lack of information on rural tourism, lack or absence of relevant travel products and inadequate promotion of these products and services. Simultaneously, an increasing interest of Tomsk residents and visitors to rural tourism is being noted. Eventually, the market of rural tourism is only at the initial but active stage of development. Tomskiy, Kozhevnikovskiy, Zyryanskiy, Shegarskiy, Аsinovskiy and Pervomayskiy territories are found the most prospective due to their geographic proximity to the region center Tomsk.

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