Tourism As A Technology Of Cultural Communication: Russian Experience

Abstract

The formation of informative society greatly influenced on a desire and possibilities of people to travel. Social and technological progress results in spatial mobility of population and enriches vital priorities and values with a variety of the impressions and new information. Innovative activity is the necessary condition of scientific and economic height of the state, positive dynamics of index of quality of life. A new tourist product, a new phenomenon or action in the tourist market becomes an innovation in the tourism sector. This innovation has a goal to attract the consumer, satisfy his necessities and at the same time to bring income to the organizer. The new concept of the Federal target program «Development of internal and entrance tourism in Russian Federation (2019-2025) » is aimed at designing and realization of new innovative projects and programs, that differ in originality, interesting maintenance and professionalism. Attention to the interests of tourists and an individual approach are the basis for the organization of tourist programs. Modern gadgets and the capabilities of the Internet will provide an opportunity to improve technological methods for finding new customers and organize new progressive tourist routes and programs for them.

Keywords: Communication in tourismfederal program of tourism development in Russia until 2025innovation tourist projectsregional tourist routes

Introduction

Tourism is the difficult and multidimensional phenomenon. A general aim of tourism is satisfaction of tourist-recreational necessities of people, including great number of different elements and their connections that is organized in certain structures. Tourist activity is related to organization of people’s departure from the place of permanent residence with the purpose of recreation (health journeys, trips for satisfaction of cognitive interests) or in educational and professionally-business aims (without engaging in paid activities in places of temporary residence).

Intensification of work supposes growth of requirement in the most various types of health and active rest, preventive treatment, which requires the introduction of new technological methods ( 2018). Success of tourist development is stipulated by the complex of socio-economic, demographic, material and technical and political factors. Over the past decade, the static stereotype of human life was replaced by dynamic ( Evseeva, Bashkarev, Pozdeeva, & Tarakanova, 2018). Changing of situation for the habitant of megalopolis became necessary. Charges on rest are required in the structure of budget.

Development of tourism is assisted by aging of population, increasing number of lonely adults, increase of number of working women, tendency to later marriages, postponing the birth of a child and the increase in the number of childless families, improving wage conditions, positive dynamics of uptime of people, lengthening of terms of pay vacations, grant working social guarantees and benefits at the expense of enterprises. All of it positively affect development of tourist-recreational sphere of activity, extending a social structure travelling. The complex of political factors assists expansion of tourist connections also. An increase of international trade and perfection of transport are important material pre-condition of development of tourism. Activation of international contacts, strengthening of good-neighborly, friendly relations between the states ( Zeleneva, Matveevskaya, & Ermolina, 2018), expansion of scientific and business connections assist development of tourism. A value of socio-economic factors is in development of tourism, including international, increases constantly. The intensification of economic connections between the states plays an all greater role ( Gladkiy, Eidemiller, Samylovskaya, & Sosnina, 2019).

To the socio-economic group of pre-conditions of tourism development, it is necessary to take the increase of standard of culture level of people ( Shipunova, Mureyko, Berezovskaya, Kolomeyzev, & Serkova, 2017), their awareness, that determines aspiring to cognition, to the acquaintance with the culture of other people. Factors rendering negative influence on development of tourism are cyclic and structural crises, inflation, height of unemployment, violation of commodity exchange conditions, as well as the lack of planning for the use of natural and human resources ( Matveevskaya, Pogodina, Tarakanova, Evseev, & Nesterova, 2018).

According to UNWTO, in 2017 the contribution of tourism to the world economy amounted to $ 7.6 trillion, that exceeds 10% of global GDP. Tourist industry creates one of 10 workplaces on a planet ( Official website of UNWTO, 2019). International tourism is one of the most fast-growing industries of the world economy. If 25 million persons traveled in the world in 1956, in 2017 - 1,323 milliards. The most fast-growing markets are situated today in Africa, on Middle East and in Asia. This trend will be saved in the nearest decades. Since 2016 to 2026, inbound tourism will grow the fastest in countries such as India, Angola, Uganda, Brunei, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Oman, Mozambique and Vietnam ( The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2019).

Problem Statement

Specific of social and economic relations inherent to tourist activity, and also separate problems of using recreational resources, motivating consumer behavior, pricing of services, stimulating business activity of service business in tourism, are studied in works of Birzhakov and Krutik ( 2014), Kleiman and Babanchikova ( 2014), Babanchikova ( 2017) and others. It is about the influence of material and technical factors on the development of recreation and tourism. This is primarily the improvement of means of transport, accommodation, communications, catering, retail, service. Information technologies occupy a special place in tourist activity today.

Some authors consider tourism as instrument of public diplomacy ( Sanchez, 2019), by means of that the state can tell the world about itself. Kosachev ( 2014) notes: «It succeeds, who knows how to use all available resources: language, education, tourism, national cuisine, cinema, brands - all that we see in the arsenal of those who have been using tools of «soft power» for years and decades or is rapidly taking possession of this tool now». According to Savoiskii ( 2011), tourist diplomacy is a tool in the implementation of foreign policy for coordinating and providing services in the field of tourism, in information and advertising provision, according to restaurant service of international standard.

One of the modern methods of implementing the concept of «soft power» is the development of the brand. Territory brands are become integral symbols of the tourism industry. They emotionally attract tourists. Nikiforova and Mazurenko ( 2013) consider that the practice of developing tourism, advertisement campaigns assist not only the increase of knowableness of place but also complete change in its image, which attracts millions of tourists, as well as investors.

Research Questions

Feature of the modern stage of tourism development in Russia and abroad give an opportunity to characterize it as innovative activity. The sphere of innovations may include changes in a product, processes, marketing, organization regarding tourist activity. Innovative activity is a complex of scientific, technological, organizational, financial, commercial events that result in innovations ( Lyakh & Likhanova, 2017). Innovative success depends, including, from the stake of expenses on financing of research charges in a gross national product, from the level of development of science and quality of formation of population.

The activity aimed at the creation and implementation of innovations can be considered innovative subject to condition, if it brings new knowledge, technologies, receptions, approaches to obtain a result that is widely in demand in society ( Buonincontri & Micers, 2016). Therefore, the organizers estimate possibility of display of all factors that can affect the effectiveness of such development before creating an innovative tourist product. For this purpose, organizers analyze: the competence level of personnel; scientific, technical, technological, financial resources and conditions, tourist infrastructure; environment (legislative and normative bases, political and economic stability, level of sociocultural development); market and competition (in domestic and foreign markets). Innovations in tourism industry are this creation of new tourist products, development of new routes and ways to display objects of tourist interest, improvement of means of transportation and accommodation of tourists, the presentation of new delights in food or entertainment, contacts with business partners, educational institutions. Such innovations can ensure the sustainable functioning of the system, they assist creation of new workplaces, generate additional income ( Nikolaeva, Bogoliubova, & Shirin, 2018).

Innovations allow to develop more perfective aspects of transport. New technological devices and technologies allow to make transportation for tourists more comfortable, and to convert the excursion, gastronomic, entertaining programs turn into colorful, emotionally rich events. Innovations contributed to the emergence of new tourist excursions on the market, conducted with the use of unusual original technological receptions (theatricalized tours, reconstructions of historical events, participating of tourists in competitions, etc.). New polymeric and composite materials provide the opportunity to create new types of equipment for the extreme types of tourism. Development of the improved navigation equipment avouches for a tourist possibility of comfort orientation in space, as well as search of the travelers hammered together from a route or getting in difficult circumstances.

Possibility of developing of innovative activity of tourist companies is influenced by such factors, as:

  • economic and technological (absence of enough facilities for financing, weakness of material and technical base, out-of-date technology) ( Park, Kim, & Choi, 2019);

  • political, legal (political instability, criminogenic situation, restrictions imposed by law);

  • organizational and administrative (superfluous centralization, orientation on short-term recoupment, complication of concordance of interests of participants of innovative processes, predominance of vertical streams of information);

  • socially-psychological and cultural (resistance to the innovations, all new, that acts from outside, fear of uncertainty) ( Shipunova & Kuznetsov, 2015).

All these factors depend on:

  • the general economic situation under act of that purchaser demand and solvency of population are formed;

  • actions of authorities to support the development of tourism, requirements of legislative and regulative character of both national and regional level, touching tourism;

  • intensity and scale of competition of nearby tourist centers and regions ( Liberato, Liberato, Abreu, Alén-González, & Rocha, 2018);

  • state of communication networks (possibilities of using electronic methods of connection) ( Parra- López, Bulchand-Gidumal, Gutiérrez-Taño, & Díaz-Armas, 2011);

  • possibility of application of new technologies during organization of journeys (global systems of reserving by the subjects of tourist market, number of companies applying new technologies) ( Pershina & Daragan, 2016);

  • period necessary for advancement of novelties of computer technologies and new suggestions on regional markets ( Tolkes, 2018).

Purpose of the Study

In different countries (for example, in the USA) the term «tourism» is designated only by journeys with educational and business purposes. All other journeys behave to the term of «trip». The changes of political, cultural, demographic character in world community find the reflection in the field of general and higher education. International connections in the field of education today are important and perspective directions of international cultural exchange. Student community is characterized by traditional mobility and communicability, aspiring to the changes of places and trips, by the permanent search of new knowledge and information. In this regard, international educational contacts are one of most dynamically developing and perspective aspects of humanitarian collaboration. International student educational tourism develops most dynamically in a current period. Activation of exchange students, trainees, graduate students and teachers from different countries takes place under influence of scientific and technical progress, integration processes around the whole world ( Evseev, Sushchenko, & Pozdeeva, 2017). Thus, practice of international education consists of that education wholly or partly turns out abroad. An international student exchange can take place at state, non-state and individual level. It is carried out on the basis of intergovernmental agreements, strengthening of connections at the level of public and other organizations, individual universities, as well as individually.

Research Methods

Business trips are considered as one of the most important components of modern tourist exchange. Business tourism (the term MICE Meetings - Incentives - Conferences – Exhibitions is also use) is one of the most profitable types of tourism. Currently, business tourism became firmly established in many countries as a most quickly developing economic sector, providing the inflow of foreign currency and creation of new workplaces. Business tourism is an important tool for stimulating business activity, height of industrial production and expansion of service, strengthening of interregional and international collaboration, support of favorable image of one or another area. About 200 international conferences were conducted in 30-th of XX century in the world annually. Currently, the number of such events exceeded 8 thousand per year, and number of participants is more than 10 million (approximately 1,5% from a world tourist stream). According to UNWTO experts, the share of business tourism in the world makes now about 20%. The structure of business tourism is presented by journeys on congresses and conferences (65%), business meeting and seminars (16%), exhibitions, fairs (15%). incentives occupy a less stake (3%) considerably ( Official website of UNWTO, 2019).

A home market of business tourism is still in the stage of becoming. It depends on the state of economy and business activity in a country According to UNWTO statistics, sales of business tourism services are distributed as follows: 70% of sales are for individual business tours, 13% - for conferences and seminars, 11% sales - for visiting and participating in exhibitions, 3% — for Congress and incentive tourism ( Official website of UNWTO, 2019). The situation is different in Russia. Individual business tours make up 45% of sales of business tours, participating in exhibitions - 40%, participating in conferences - 10% of sales incentive tours-5%. Domestic business tourism has great potential. Russia is not included in the number of leading countries in area of Congress tourism. Russia's share in the world market of international Congress events makes less than 1% according to International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ( Official website of ICCA, 2019). Large international congresses are held in Russia per year, as in cities such as Cape town or Munich, and in 3 times less than in Paris. The share of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the main part of the Congress and exhibition activities is concentrated, makes approximately 40% of the Russian market. Business tourism Association is the organization aimed at development of business tourism in a country. It was established in Russia only in 2000. Circle of members of the Association is various: travel agencies, hotels, cruise, insurance, air and railway companies, law, security firms, congress centers, resorts, banks, educational institutions, media, large corporations. All of them are consumers of the industry services, i.e. those, who participating to the sphere of business tourism. The Committee on business tourism was established within the framework of the Russian Union of tourism industry. Russian representatives are members of ICCA, headquartered in Amsterdam.

Findings

The modern development of tourism in Russia is characterized by deep contradictions in its organizational structure. On the one hand, the current state of tourism in Russia is regarded as a crisis, associated with a sharp drop in previously achieved volumes. On the other hand, the organizers mark the high pace of construction of tourist facilities that meet the highest international standards, a significant increase in visits of Russians to foreign travel, height of number of tourist organizations throughout Russia. The level of prices on many services for domestic tourism and recreation equaled and even exceeded the level of prices on similar suggestions on outbound tourism.

The USA, countries of European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Canada has introduced some political and restrictive measures (sanctions) against our country after the annexation of Crimea and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014. Russia force to answer introduction of return measures. All this affect the indicators of inbound and outbound tourism in Russia. The Association of Tour Operators appealed to the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation to support the participants of the tourism market, reoriented to internal tourism or actively developing it. A special Council for the maintenance of import substitution in tourism was established under the Ministry of culture.

Association of Tour Operators of presented methodical recommendations on development of regional tourist routes. The term «export of tourist services» began to be actively used after that in the tourist business of Russia. ( Official website of Russian Federal Agency for Tourism, 2019) Meaning of this term is in the formation of tourist activities for the organization of inbound tourism.

The home organizers of tourist activity often do not consider that the «average tourist» has undergone changes in recent decades ( Pozdeeva, Trostinskaya, Evseeva, & Ivanova, 2018). Now «tourist - a professional» with extensive travel experience appeared instead of the "naive" tourist. If before a tourist drove out with his family and spent time according to the formula: in the daytime is a beach or visit of objects of show, in the evening is a restaurant, bars, variety show. That presently, a tourist is independent, flexible, movable ( Xu, Tian, Buhalis, Weber, & Zhang, 2016). He prefers cognitive tourism, sports (often with very sharp feeling), in the day-time ready to be satisfied by a fast-food hamburger, but in the evening prefers expensive restaurants and playing establishments. The certain change of tourist preferences happened toward elite, combined and adventure tourism. At the same time, beach holidays confidently lead among other types of tourism. It is about half of the total volume of tourist streams.

The World Economic Forum presented the world rating of competitiveness among 136 countries of the World after 2017. Russia ranked 43th place. Our country occupies the strongest positions in the rating on the infrastructure of air transport (22th place), the number of natural resources (39th place) and cultural sights (25th place). Russia ranks 11th place on the competitiveness of prices. The country got 116th place in quality of tourist infrastructure (hotels, resorts, entertaining establishments). Experts low estimated the openness of country for international travelers (115th place) ( Official website of World Economic Forum, 2019).

New concept of the Federal target program «Development of internal and entrance tourism in Russian Federation (2019 - 2025)» was ratified in May 2018 ( order of the Government of Russian Federation of May 5, 2018 № 872-p) (The Federal target program «Development internal and entrance tourism in Russian Federation (2019-2025)»). According to it, by the end of 2025 the volume of tourist services provided to the population will have to be more than 274 milliards of rubles, and the volume of services provided to the population by hotels and similar accommodation facilities will reach 373 milliards of rubles. Expected that the amount of the organized tourists designing an electronic tour on Russia will attain 6,78 million persons in a year by the end of 2025. Support of activity will come true for advancement of the Russian tourist product. Authors consider a necessity to develop the internetwork of national marketing center for tourism («Visit Russia»). In conception it is prescribed that, it is supposed to provide subsidies to tour operators to compensate part of the costs under the agreement on the implementation of the tourist product in the field of internal and entrance tourism, including in order reducing the cost of tourist packages in the low season and for socially vulnerable categories of citizens.

The program document approved 15 perspective tourist integrated investment projects on specific priority types of tourism:

  • within the framework of health tourism (projects «The black Sea coast», «Volga region», «Caucasus», «Caspian Sea»);

  • within the framework of cultural and educational tourism (projects «The Silver necklace of Russia», «Central Russia», «Russian Baltic», «Ural»);

  • within the framework of active tourism (project «Siberia»);

  • within cruise tourism (projects «Primorye», «Volga way», «Russian Arctic», «Amur», «Kamchatka»);

  • within the framework of ecological tourism (project «Baikal»).

Conclusion

The success of the tourism and recreation sector in a particular region depends on a number of pre-conditions that can have an influence on tourism development. The state and prospects of its development are determined not only by the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of tourist resources and recreational terms. A requirement in them is changeable in time, as the fashion for different types of tourism changes, there are new, previously non-existent types of recreation that impose their own requirements for the availability and quality of resource potential Social, economic, political, ecological factors influence on character and intensity of the use of resource base.

St. Petersburg is known as the main center of tourism in Russia. 8.3 million tourists visited the city in 2018. Mean time of tourists’ stay in St. Petersburg makes 3-5 days. Only a small segment of visitors tends to re-visit St. Petersburg. At the same time, the number of metropolitan residents and habitants of Leningrad region exceeds 7 million people. The city gained fame as the cultural capital of the country. St. Petersburg possesses unique combination of developed infrastructure and cultural, historical resources. Surprisingly, there is no register of tourist resources in the city. An actual task consists in creation of such documents by the city authorities and specialists in tourism.

Classical excursions, realized by tourist and excursion companies, lose their followers. Tourists coming to St. Petersburg, often independently investigate the objects of excursion show by means of mobile applications and resources of network the Internet. Modern sightseers are mobile, they quite often wait from the excursion of not so much new knowledge, how many new impressions. Quests, games and theatrical tours are increasingly becoming innovative technologies in the organization of excursions visited by citizens. St.Petersburg residents are interested in such proposals. The performance-journey of BDT «Remote Petersburg» became an event of 2014 in the market of tourist and excursion services of St. Petersburg. Performance-journey is a route for fifty people who, with the help of an audio guide, go for a walk around the city without the participation of a guide. Tourists become the actors of the theatrical trip. Young enthusiasts-guides included in the team Trip Fiction, worked out a few original programs: «Persons of Leningrad nationality», «Hunt on a tsar», «Loathsome Avenue», «I am nepman», «Masons to blame», «Stone, compass, two earrings», «Ironed shirt of St. Petersburg». This innovative project arouses interest in local history and creates a new format of cultural leisure for St. Petersburg. The following tourist destinations can become promising for short-distance tourism: «The Great way on Russian North», «Peter's cities», «Trip to Ancient Russia», «In the footsteps of «Varangians», «Outposts of Russia», «On saint places», «Living water of the North-West of Russia», «Northern ports of Russia», «Wooden architecture», «Tree of life», «Indigenous people of the «Silver necklace of Russia». They are actively used by tour operators for development of interregional routes.

Projects «Life of wonderful people», «Imperial route», «Estates of Russia» are implemented on territory of North-West. Realization of these projects requires the search for new forms of work with tourists and tourists. Unfortunately, the development of short-distance tourism in the North-West is hampered by the unsatisfactory condition of many historical and cultural sites and resources of tourist show, needing reconstruction. Level of development of infrastructure providing tourist activity is estimated low. Thus, potentially the posible volume of tourist stream is estimated at 10 million, however, its actual value in these regions does not exceed 4 million tourists per year (excluding St. Petersburg). Many points of interest to tourists are at a considerable distance from each other. It is necessary to reconstruct the existing and create new modern accommodation facilities, including camping for autotourists - auto-tourist clusters. It is important to increase the attractiveness of traditional tourism products through the development of additional services, and, foremost, the entertainment industry (taking into account the climatic characteristics of the region, primarily – water parks, Spa complexes, including on the basis of local hydrological resources).

The project «The living lessons» is implemented from December 2015. Is a complex of measures for organization of excursion-educational tours for students of educational institutions on a regular basis. The project aims to expand and consolidate knowledge in school subjects, increase intellectual, cultural and spiritual level, education of civil-patriotic position, the continuation of national traditions, development of creative abilities. The idea of the project is to create routes in the Russian regions integrated into the educational program and to line up interregional cooperation on the exchange of school groups.

The concept of the Federal target program «Development internal and entrance tourism in the Russian Federation (2019 - 2025)» marks the increasing stream of traveling around the country in the format of amateur tourism. This instruction should orientate travel agencies to design and implement new innovative projects and programs that are original in form and deep in content. Realization of such programs will require the organizers to demonstrate significant professional competencies. Of course, tourism will continue to be the sphere of communication of people in contact with each other during travel. However, the trend of individual approach, account of interests of tourists is manifested in the organization of tourist programs all anymore. Existing and developing technical devices will provide an opportunity to improve the technological methods of finding new customers and organize new progressive tourist routes and programs for them.

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12 March 2020

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Pogodina, V., Matveevskaya*, A., Tarakanova, T., & Evseev, V. (2020). Tourism As A Technology Of Cultural Communication: Russian Experience. In O. D. Shipunova, V. N. Volkova, A. Nordmann, & L. Moccozet (Eds.), Communicative Strategies of Information Society, vol 80. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 222-231). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.03.02.27