Developing Tourist Attractiveness of Region through Overcoming Restrictions of Branch Infrastructure

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the development of tourist attractiveness in Chelyabinsk region having certain lacks and restrictions in the existing tourist infrastructure. In the article, the speeches in public of the governor of Chelyabinsk region are used which make the problem very important for the development of the territory. The sources of the problem are revealed, the description of the author's suggestions concerning its decision is given. Among them, there are as follows: integration of the information-communication field of the territory by making the unified tourist portal of Chelyabinsk region; strengthening the idea of target state-private partnership in using the programs of restoration and advertising tourist objects; implementing attracting investment programs oriented towards solving the tourist tasks of the region. The materials of the article are the inquiry answer of the laboratory of history, archeology and tourism of the research institute opened at "Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University" (NMSTU).

Keywords: Attractiveness of the regionbranch infrastructuretourism;the resources of tourist development;the restriction of tourist development

Introduction

One of the most demanded activities of a man in the modern world is tourism. Today, both old and young people use its potential for satisfaction of their cognitive, health-improving, communicative, entertaining and other demands. The tourism industry finds special popularity; the demand for a tourist product is promptly increasing. The science about tourism is being formed; the standards and programs of vocational training of the staff for the tourism industry are being improved. The sphere of tourism is intensively developing; its prospects are obvious in economic, scientific and technical as well as in sociocultural, ecological, legal, etc. meanings. It is definitely clear that today the tourism industry has a lot of possibilities to draw tourists’ attention (and it does) as the most important factor of the modern society’s activities, as a way of achieving international, interbranch and intra-organizational reputation, developing mutually profitable international and inter-organizational cooperation, as an object of infinite and demanded innovations, capable of surprising and satisfying a consumer. The government understands this, private businessmen react to it all very quickly. There are textbooks on tourism in which its history, the features of professional tourist activities and the management of it are described (Buylenko, & Tourism, 2008); at the scientific level the concept about regional tourism and the prospects of its development are discussed (Shemetova, 2012). There is also an arsenal of information sources and periodicals which are annually replenished.

At the same time, it is possible to say for sure that the possibilities of the modern tourist industry in Russia are not fully used yet. The nation-wide and private-territorial tourist resource does not completely develop its potential. The economics of tourism is insufficiently perfect, some travel agencies cannot reach stability in their economic results at times. Tourist service is not ideal though the task of its improving before service organizations is set and service activities are every where standardized, both with the use of internal and on the basis of the international standards of its quality. The maintenance of the tourism industry is not brought up to the level of efficiency, for example, security, protection of the consumer’s rights of a tourist product, guarantees of fair business, efficient management, etc. At times, mediation and marketing in tourism do not reach the level of proper performance. The promotion of a tourist product from a manufacturer to a consumer through an intermediary sometimes creates extra difficulties for a consumer, and for swindlers – favorable conditions for their roguish purposes. The program of state-private partnership in tourist business is not fully developed. The approaches to managing tourism, oriented towards, for example, the technological development and decision-making concerning the tourist problems of the regions are not systematized.

Methods

The above-mentioned things that echo many researchers allow confirming the analysis of a situation in separate areas of Russia where tourism is insufficiently developed in spite of the availability and strengthening attention from official institutions of local government.

For example, Chelyabinsk region, the managers of which (in particular the governor) have got under special control the questions of developing the attractiveness of the entrusted territory by means of tourism, is in such (problematic, but, at the same time, not hopeless) position. The questions of interactive electronic channels, which have not developed functionality in Chelyabinsk region according to the governor’s words, were taken over the control, too. In this connection, the Government of the Chelyabinsk region, the regional Ministry of culture, the Department of developing regional tourism have accepted the state program “The Development of Culture and Tourism in the Chelyabinsk Region” where the following ideas have been put forward (The list of adopted state programs of the Chelyabinsk region in 2016):

- to invite as many investments as possible in the region for developing tourism, using for this purpose in-Russian and foreign connections, to find the people interested in putting capital into tourist projects developed on the territory of the region;

- to hold an inter-regional forum on developing tourism with inviting the representatives of the federal agencies of the government and attempting to enter the federal program of supporting tourism in the regions;

- to introduce the project on making the tourist cluster "The Gold Belt of the Mountain Ural" and implementing the tourist routes of health-improving, recreational, cultural-cognitive, sports, ecological directions.

The management of Chelyabinsk region has also stated the specific ideas which according to the analysts’ opinions and suppositions will be interesting not only for Russians, but also tourists, businessmen from abroad (The list of adopted state programs of Chelyabinsk region in 2016). For the implementation of this program, it is necessary:

- to systematize the information about the existing resources (travel agencies; the spectrum of services offered by them; the development of transport infrastructure; the availability of the points of available feeding; the availability of a number of hotels, hospices, etc.);

- to conclude contracts with the organizations connected with tourist business and to use the received information for making corresponding databases; to find the accompanying connection with separate databases;

- to develop the concept and to design the information portal "Chelyabinsk Region is a Tourist Region"; using the concept, to show the types of tourism offered by the portal; an interactive card with the search of an individual route or the indication of the routes developed by travel agencies; to describe the search database allowing any visitor to choose not only a travel agency, but also a holiday destination and feed at his own discretion; to describe the block of presenting souvenirs and accompanying goods; to describe an interactive block – an electronic reception implementing the feedback where any visitor can ask a question and get the answer to it; to lay and describe the possibilities for modernizing the portal;

- to develop the mechanism of certificating guides, thus having organized certified tutorial with indicating educational centers; to develop curriculums and methodical materials for an educational center;

- in a test mode, to create and to start the information portal "The Chelyabinsk Region is a Tourist Region" having eliminated defects during debugging, adding wishes of visitors;

- to start the information portal in the standard operating mode; to organize the work of moderators and IT-engineers of the site.

Research laboratories (the authors of the publication represent one of them) also investigated the problem of developing the regional tourism. At "Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University" (Chelyabinsk region) the laboratory of history, archeology and tourism has been opened. The laboratory, among other its functions, is intended to provide guidance to interdisciplinary studies and their authors for the solution of urgent (economic, environmental, social, cultural and other) problems of the region by means of tourism.

The tasks of the laboratory (in the aspect of the research concerning tourism):

1) to carry out the scientific analysis and to systematize the problems concerning developing tourism in Chelyabinsk region in the light of the restrictions of the infrastructure and possibilities to minimize these restrictions to the maximum;

2) to develop long-term, intermediate term and short-term programs of the maximal minimization of restrictions, to form the command of state-private partners interested in implementing these programs;

3) to make a unified information portal for business and consumer communications in the tourism of Chelyabinsk region to strengthen the advertising of tourist objects, to accelerate the exchange of important (business and consumer, statistical, news and explaining) information both for a manufacturer and an intermediary and also for a consumer of the market tourist offer.

While solving the tasks of the laboratory creative and the intellectual forces of scientists, businessmen, students, the representatives of the agencies of municipal and regional authorities were necessary. Each participant of the research had his role:

- the producer of practical ideas and excogitation;

- a developer of methods of implementation of ideas, the implementation of the concept;

- a coordinator of the ties formed in the course of generating the ideas and implementing the concept;

- a controller of effective ideas – economic and social significance of the concept.

It is especially necessary to notice that one of the roles belongs to the students of "Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University", mastering the direction of vocational training "Tourism" at the University. They were offered to participate in the competition of target creative projects to perform the order of the laboratory for the final qualifying work in which there is a possibility to conduct an experiment, to test a mini-program, for example, on the subject matter concerning developing the attractiveness of tourist objects in Chelyabinsk region or making an innovative channel of communication for responsive groups of consumers in tourism; on advertising inventions for mass-media or new ways of developing state-private regulation of tourism. The result of one of the periods of students’ active participation in the work of the laboratory was numerous creative and qualifying researches, scientific reports at different conferences and forums (Avanesov, 2002), initiative practical communication with the representatives of tourist firms in the region and students of other higher institutions.

The main things in the work of the laboratory, as well as in solving the problem at a regional level were the spirit of the command, the evidence of the signs concerning achieving the expected result, a stable growth of participation concerning the solution of the common problem and tasks.

Results

The scientific general problem of developing the tourist attraction of the region under the conditions of the presence of certain restrictions demanded the appropriate methodological procedures first of all.

The system approach including its principles and methods was methodological for the scientific problem of developing the tourist attractiveness of Chelyabinsk region under the conditions of the restrictions of the infrastructure. The totality of such problems and their merits cannot be considered to be generic and disclosed from the point of view of the system analysis now. The sources of the problems have not been studied and not given in the system. The model system to address these problems has not been established, the individual actions of individual enterprises have not been connected at all, or at least not consistent with each other in private matters.

The scientific concept of restrictions is also methodologically actual for the decision of the problem which is known in classical management as the concept of the restrictions concerning the activities of the operating enterprises’ or organizations’ managers; in the industrial management – as the concept of the resource restrictions (financial, nature-climatic, organizational and other conditions). Among the main constraints identified within the framework of the problem, there are economic, social, technological, climatic, cultural ones. Limitations are possibly believed to eliminate, at least, reduce their negative impact on the issue with the development of email marketing, expanding the tourism contact zone region.

In the depth of the problem concerning the tourist attractiveness of the Chelyabinsk region, there is its marketing essence. The concepts about the attractiveness, competitiveness, market validity of this or that idea, the vision of the market prospects of its implementation, as well as about the availability of the risks of entrepreneurial business and so forth are the most important concepts of classical marketing. Accordingly, the marketing approach, its principles and methods, must play the major role in the solution of the problem. There are no ideas about the problem of limited resources and the purposeful, creative building of their capacity and upgrading in the face of many contradictions and obstacles, which are attributes of innovative marketing. Thus, the least significant value in the solution of the problem belongs (should belong) to marketing innovation (Plotnikova, 2015).

With the application of the system approach, the problem, in the authors’ opinion, should be solved by the search of its components dependent on each other, disclosing the content of the dependence and the description of the possibilities to use this dependence during the development and decision-making. In the tourism of Chelyabinsk region, such (the most dependent in relation to each other) components are highly motivating when developing the tourist branch in the management of the region and training experts of various organizations. But there are restrictions of the branch infrastructure owing to the lack of its financing, and, consequently, not sufficiently high present ability, as well as to the neglect of a certain part of tourist objects.

The decision of the problem described in the article, in particular, the system approach, is oriented towards the research of:

- the systems and functions of managing the tourism of the region, including managing a specific tourist object, an organization;

- the system of the criteria and assessments of the effective management of the tourism in the region, including a specific tourist object, an organization;

- the system of the technologies of tourism managing in the region, including a specific tourist object, an organization.

The implementation of the system approach in the research of the problem described in the article requires describing both classical and innovative methods of management. First of all, these are organizational-managerial, administrative and stimulating (psychological, economic, bureaucratic) methods, but also adhocracy methods with the use of intellectual efforts, the intellectual capital of separate collectives (scientists, students), creative and business-initiatives of separate businessmen, the representatives of domestic and foreign tourism and other business, as well as their groups and voluntary associations (Yagudin, 2006).

Speaking differently, the system approach in the decision of the declared problem is for making a durable and functional, perspective and appropriate, qualitative and effective control system of the management of developing the tourist attractiveness of the region. The system will be exposed to the research (reflection, diagnostics) and possible updating concerning the parameters of validity, organizational harmony, the complexity of the tasks and ways of their resolvability (Rogozhin, & Rogozhina, 2005).

The strength and functionality of the system should be reflected in real results of its implementation in practice.

Perspective and expediency are in the qualified choice of strategies, a set of the proved strategic alternatives.

The efficiency will be estimated by the criteria of commercial achievements (real incomes of implementing programs, projects, development) and the elimination of essential social problems (employment of the population, comfort of living in the places verging on a tourist object or an organization, ecological compatibility of the processes concerning expanding tourist infrastructure).

In a context of the concept of restrictions, the problem is considered in view of objective and subjective factors of influence on its solution, in view of an indispensability to reveal restrictions, to discover them and to describe attempts of their overcoming by means of methods of the functional-cost analysis overcoming process. In this case, they of great importance in view of resource restrictions (Syromyatnikova, & Nokhrina, 2010).

As the tourist infrastructure of Chelyabinsk region was not the object of closer attention on the part of the institutions of local government earlier (it has happened quite recently), a number of the following restrictions have arisen and gained in strength:

1) delay in the development and propagation of the specific tourist offer and underutilization of the methods of stimulation concerning its demand;

2) delay in the development and propagation of the tourist innovations having, as it is known, an enduring value for a consumer, whose demands are constantly, naturally and intensively growing;

3) delay in the development and propagation of the new mutually advantageous models of both inner- and inter-branch partnership.

In a word, the main object of the stated problem as scientific is the restrictions of the branch (tourist) infrastructure, namely underutilization of the existing tourist objects; their insufficient availability as a whole in view of underutilization of the territories; the insufficiently expressed model of business tourist contacts.

The absence of qualified marketing is distinguished among the restrictions in the tourism of the region. It is no coincidence that the students of "Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University" mastering the course of vocational training "Tourism" and “Law” were mentioned earlier in the article. They found their place in the work of the above mentioned research laboratory. Their marketing and other competences, as well as a high motive of scientifically creative search turn out to be irreplaceable "assistants" in the decision of a certain part of the described problem. The marketing of the tourism and the marketing of the professional knowledge and skills received by the students during studying are also important. The most important concept of marketing in the tourism is a need for a tourist product, i.e. demand for it. In the marketing of professional competences of the students mastering the direction "Tourism", there is a need for a qualified specialist, i.e. demand for them (Plotnikova, 2015). Another major concept of marketing is risk. Managing projects is managing risks. The best way of managing risks is the acceptance of the substantiated decisions concerning minimizing the degree of the uncertainty in all the aspects of managing them (Chernova et al., 2016).

The main principles of the marketing approach to solving the problem of the developing tourist attractiveness in Chelyabinsk region by means of overcoming the restrictions of the branch infrastructure are:

1) economic feasibility of the offers concerning the decision;

2) social efficiency of the decisions;

3) the system of decisions;

4) the management of risks.

The economic feasibility of the decisions is necessary in virtue of its limited financial resources. Any financial investments should be justified and, therefore, substantiated with a glance to the objective tree, the system, the whole set of targets.

Social efficiency will allow considering the human factor both in the personnel maintenance of the tourism in the region and in the decrease of manipulations by a consumer of a tourist product.

The system of decisions does not imply ignoring both objective and subjective factors of the problem, obliges the subjects of management to consider both the achievement of the object in view and carrying out the preventive maintenance of possible costs of this process ― not only possible success, but also losses.

The management of risks allows supervising the probability of a risk, its size and ways of influence on it; and the main thing is to reduce the degree of uncertainty in the reactions of the environment (a consumer, competitors, etc.) concerning an idea, a project or a program (Sahak, & Wheat, 2007).

The offered procedure of solving the problem concerning the development of the tourist attractiveness in Chelyabinsk region consists of a set of principles, methods, ways and recommendations of:

- financial management and marketing in tourism;

- personnel management and marketing in tourism;

- information management and marketing in tourism;

- communication management and marketing in tourism.

- anti-recessionary management and marketing in tourism;

- antimonopoly management and marketing in tourism;

- statutory-regulatory management and marketing in tourism.

The prime recommendations to the participants of the process concerning solving the problem are the following:

1) orienting of the organized activities towards the principle of balancing parameters on the borders of minimum and maximum;

2) making the cult attitude to the project, to the principle of the unity of corporate spirit and individual responsibility both among the management and among its executors;

3) achieving a high quality and efficiency in the use of channels of feedback, in the use of the sources of informing;

4) continuous escalating the system of contact audiences, long-term contractual attitudes, inter-organizational, interbranch and international communications;

5) taking measures concerning the preventive maintenance of crises and risks in the implementation of both separate projects and programs and the whole system of work.

The research of the problem concerning developing the tourist attractiveness of the regions by means of overcoming the restrictions of the branch infrastructure in terms of Chelyabinsk region has not been completed. However, its methodology, procedure, objective, tasks have been defined; the resources have been specified; the programs of the actions concerning solving the problem in the shortest possible time and with the most possible effect have been developed (continue to be developed).

Revealing the objective and the sources of the problem allowed us to ascertain that:

- its prime objective is the increase concerning the level of the social and economic condition of the region, the target use of the tourist purpose of the cultural heritage and natural feature of the territory;

- the sources are the demand of the region regulatory bodies in the adequate and some detail-directed use of the appropriating territory possessing a certain tourist potential.

The strategic tasks of solving the problem are:

1) the search of its investment sources;

2) the restoration of existing and the construction of new tourist objects, as well as the service enterprises and organizations with the application of careful analytical work in studying the questions of demand for a regional tourist product;

3) making a qualitative system of notifying a consumer of a regional tourist product and contacting businessmen, the regulatory bodies in the region.

Conclusion

Among the most important aspects of promoting the tourism in Chelyabinsk region is the development of the tourism in Magnitogorsk (mountain-factory) zone and in the vicinities of the city (adjoining with picturesque, ecologically unique in a natural sense places of Bashkiria). The idea of opening the research laboratory in Magnitogorsk corresponds to it. The intellectual capital consists of the results of the scientists' activities, creative search of the students of "Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University", Magnitogorsk businessmen of tourist business.

Those numerous efforts under consideration are directed to solving the problem of developing the tourist attractiveness of Chelyabinsk region, and the problem itself is set up by the management of the region. Consequently, it is possible to predict its "big" future. Firstly, because the team, interested in solving the problem, is being formed and expanded. Secondly, because the reality of mixed support for the ideas of solving the problem is actualized. Thirdly, because the problem of professional competence in doing research and technology in the management of the limited resources of tourism is being tackled by the participants solving the problem.

References

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Publication Date

20 July 2017

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978-1-80296-025-9

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Future Academy

Volume

26

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Cite this article as:

Plotnikova, H., Tsaran, A., Velikanova, S., Bobrova, I., & Trofimov, Y. (2017). Developing Tourist Attractiveness of Region through Overcoming Restrictions of Branch Infrastructure. In K. Anna Yurevna, A. Igor Borisovich, W. Martin de Jong, & M. Nikita Vladimirovich (Eds.), Responsible Research and Innovation, vol 26. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 761-769). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.07.02.98