Organization Of Rural Tourism As A Factor Of Rural Development

Abstract

This article is an attempt to study the agricultural tourism and developing recommendations on their organization in the regions of Russia. In the Belgorod region, the development of rural tourism is of fundamental importance for small businesses, which can be traced in regional development programs. This is especially true for the region where the structural divisions of the country's largest holding groups are located. On the other hand, in the Belgorod region, the competitiveness in the field of rural tourism among small businesses is gradually increasing. For small businesses in this area, integration with travel agencies or specialized structures at the regional level is optimal. The degree of integration in this case will depend on the type of tourist product, as well as the degree of its demand. The development of rural tourism is currently possible only if there is an appropriate level of state support, which also requires substantiation from a small business entity. The development of interventions helps promoting tourism not only in the regions with well-developed economies, but also in other regions, thereby improving their socio-economic status.

Keywords: Agritourism, economy, rural areas, small business

Introduction

One of the priority directions of development of non-agricultural activities is rural tourism, which is a temporary stay of tourists within rural areas for recreation and participation in agriculture.

The services of rural tourism are provided by families with children, older people, young people and outdoor enthusiasts. Everybody expects from this holiday, first of all, a quiet and measured life in the idyllic hinterland, including clean air and quiet, comfortable, homely atmosphere, affordable prices, genuine products and good food, an enjoyable experience, a great choice of entertainment for children and adults (Agibalov et al., 2018).

Rural tourism is not just a sector of the tourism industry; it performs important socio-economic functions:

The development of rural tourism contributes directly to increasing the attractiveness of living in rural areas. Therefore, in order to create favorable conditions for the development and promotion of rural tourism in the Belgorod region, the authority is implementing a strategy of socio-economic development of the region for the period up to 2025.

Problem Statement

The Russian Federation has unique natural-climatic, historical and cultural features, allowing developing this sector. But, despite that, it represents the type of tourism which currently among the population is widespread, as abroad is quite popular.

Research Questions

The subject of the research is economic and social relations that determine the development trends of rural tourism in the regions.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the study is to assess the prospects for the development of agricultural tourism in the Belgorod region.

Research Methods

The basis of research is works of foreign and domestic scientists and specialists on problems of development of rural areas through agritourism. The study used analytic, monographic, abstractly logical, calculation-structural and comparative research methods (Chekudaev et al., 2019).

The countryside is a source of many useful goods, starting from food and ending with recreational benefits. The level of economic development, population density, and arrangement of rural areas largely depend on the security, integrity and territorial unity of the state (Nezhelchenko et al., 2017). Restructuring agricultural organizations and land reform have significantly changed the agrarian structure of Russia. Recent structural changes have adversely affected the standard of living of most of the rural population, increased differentiation of population by the income level, increasing the backlog of rural households from the urban size, the average per capita disposable resources (Slinkova et al., 2018). Accordingly, the development of rural areas greatly depends on the condition of large-scale production (Armashova 2019; Merenkova et al., 2020).

Findings

After studying the typology of regions by the index of tourist and recreational development, we note that the Belgorod region has a relatively high index of tourist and recreational development.

The Belgorod region in the rating of regions of the Central Federal district is ranked fourth, the index of tourist and recreational development in relative units is 0.626 that shows a fairly high level of development of tourist-recreational development of the region (Galimova et al., 2019).

Rural tourism in the Belgorod region has been developing in many areas. Graivoronsky district has become a pioneer in the Belgorod region in implementing the program of rural tourism, being in constant search for social partnership, new ways of active leisure in the village, additional services, and substantial replenishment of the regional budget.

At the moment, 42 of rural households, courtyards and homesteads are already receiving guests. These are the guesthouse "Forest", estate "the farm on the river Vorskla", recreation area "Birch", "Forest farm on the faces".

A negative point is the fact that the activities of most of the objects are not consistent with the purposes and reduced to the provision of tour services.

Analyzing resources for tourism development in the Belgorod region, we note the huge potential opportunities of development of tourism in the region. The Belgorod region has rich wellsprings of spiritual, moral, aesthetic and artistic culture. Cultural heritage has been created over many centuries, cultivated, enriched, passed down from generation to generation.

The recreation organization in a rural area can be an important addition to the core activities of the rural population. The decision on the occupation of rural tourism should be based on an assessment of not only positive, but also negative aspects of this type of business (Gurina & Rumyanceva, 2019, Narizhny, 2019, Sabetova, 2018).

It is recommended that at the stage of planning activities, we must evaluate the possible degree of impact of negative effects of rural tourism as a business.

Such effects include the seasonal nature of demand, the instability of income and lack of skills (shortage of skilled labor) for the development of rural tourism.

In addition, one should assess the degree of competition not only within this rural location, but also from other areas and regions.

Analysis of competitors, offering services in the field of rural tourism, will allow developing a unique offer that stands out from the market of similar services (Kudryavtseva et al., 2019).

If recreation in a rural location is encouraged to adhere to the sequence of actions, rural tourism can be implemented in four areas:

1) agritourism: recreation on the basis of the rural households involved in agricultural production: horticulture, gardening, milking cows, caring for horses, sheep shearing, etc.;

2) staying in the village: the pastime of tourists in the rural house with provision of additional services: cooking in the Russian oven, the power from the infield, learning various crafts;

3) hunting: leisure tourists, as the host mediated and direct participation in the extraction of the hunting resources;

4) gathering mushrooms and berries: leisure tourists, as the host mediated and direct involvement in gathering mushrooms, berries and fruits.

There are three ways of functioning of rural tourism based on small farms:

1) sandbox mode. Chapter smallholders and K(f)Kh alone form a complete set of elements of tourism productы, promote and sell it on the market;

2) partial integration. Elements of the tourist product are formed by smallholders and K(f)Kh and travel companies. Smallholders and K(f)Kh are engaged in accommodation of tourists and the organization of the complex of services on the route depending on the types of the purchased tour. For example, in the case of fishing, tourism is picking berries and mushrooms; extraction of hunting resources, agritourism is a demonstration of the process of production of agricultural products;

3) full integration. The citizens, leading LPH and K(f)Kh, are exclusively for the accommodation of tourists without the provision of complex services on the route.

The organization of these activities is vested in a travel agency or specialised structure.

At the initial stage of formation of rural tourism, complete isolation of smallholdings and farms are impossible. This is due to the lack of experience in this direction, organizational skills, complexity of the legal aspects of the creation, promotion and implementation of tourist product (Salikov et al., 2019). The best option is the integration of smallholders and K(f)X in the system of organization of tourist products, carried out by tourism companies or specialized agencies. The level of integration is determined by the specificity of conditions of functioning of specific areas of tourism (Lvova et al., 2018, Muraveva & Talalaeva, 2019).

Almost all kinds of tourism allow heads of households to assume the functions of accommodation and the provision of services on the route. The exception is hunting tourism, the organization of which requires a large number of approval procedures (Orekhov et al., 2018). The implementation of these measures rests with the travel company or the agencies.

Heads of households can provide tourists with such services as accommodation, food, tours of mushroom and berry places, individual farms. Depending on the kind of the tour, organized by a set of services, smallholders vary.

Thus, the functioning of rural tourism on the basis of Le and K(f)X is possible only through integration with travel agencies, who perform much of the work on creation of tourist products.

Conclusion

The system of organization of rural tourism on the basis of Le and K(f)X with the maximum involvement of elements of the state can be represented in five stages.

The first stage. At this stage, the head of LPH and K(f)X studies key aspects of the organization of rural tourism. This work can be accomplished in several ways:

1) heads of household plots and K(f)X do an independent search and study the information resources;

2) tourist firms organize information and consulting work with potential partners and heads of smallholders and K(f)Kh;

3) if the smallholders are registered in the state employment service as unemployed, the municipal funds of small business support and training centres provide citizens with information, consultation and educational services on these issues. At the end of this stage, the heads of LPH and K(f)X decide on the organization of rural tourism on the basis of Le and K(f)Kh.

The second stage. At this stage, the heads are engaged in a legal business activity. It is important to specify that among the existing legal forms the most optimal one is individual entrepreneurship due to the following reasons:

1) ability to use elements of state support aimed at supporting the entrepreneurial initiatives of citizens;

2) possibility of using special tax regimes;

3) organizational and economic aspects of registration and management of these forms of activity are much simpler in comparison with others.

The third stage. Citizens who apply as entrepreneurs are trained on the course "The start-up businessman" organized at Belgorod national research university, Higher School of Management. Applicants must submit and defend a business plan for the organization of rural tourism on the basis of smallholders or K(f)X, meeting the expert committee. Best projects of young entrepreneurs receive state support.

The fourth stage. At this stage, there is legal formalization of relations with the travel company, preparation of objects of rural tourism.

The fifth stage. Commissioning of rural tourism in operation, the beginning of functioning of the industry of this type of tourism based on smallholders.

The key document that allows the citizens, a leading farm, to justify the economic efficiency of the organization of rural tourism and to use elements of credit and financial state support is the business plan. For the development of the document, you must define the following parameters: the costs of organizing services and accommodation on the basis of smallholdings; services in the context of the studied areas of tourism; the cost of services provided by smallholders.

The cost of the organization of tourism depends on the tourist accommodation in LE, which can be done in two ways:

1) accommodation in guest rooms in the house of residence of the owners (model name "Rural family"). A feature of this model is the ability to submerse tourists in the atmosphere and life of the rural family, which is possible due to residence in the territory of one of the owners of the house. At the disposal of guests, there is one separate room (two or three beds) and communal areas. The interior of the rooms is fully consistent with the interior of the rural house. Near the house is a vegetable garden, garden, facilities for keeping animals.

2) accommodation in a separate guest house (model name "Rural house"). The receiving side puts tourists in a separate house built from logs of native trees. The house is located on the territory or on the leased land. At the disposal of guests, there are two rooms (two or three beds) and the communal areas of the rented house.

Determining the cost of services will come from providing food, accommodation and excursions for mushroom and berry places. Indicators of economic efficiency of study areas of rural tourism show that the project is effective and agritourism will provide additional income to rural residents to strengthen and expand their businesses; as well as additional guaranteed sales of products in the framework of the provision of catering services to tourists.

As a conclusion, we offer you to combine:

• village (the interest of rural residents);
• educational institution (workshop "Practical aspects of opening and running a business in rural tourism". Goal: support and promotion of achievements in the field of rural tourism, the development of professional cooperation in the implementation of promising ideas and technologies when opening and conducting business in the field of rural tourism);
• order of administration of the rural settlement;
• state support (preferential taxation, preferential loans, tourist product of the Russian hinterland).

The outcome can be noted that in order to increase the tourist attractiveness of rural areas, it is necessary:

1. to develop a clear and precise legislative framework. National legislation on agro-tourism as benefiting tourism is not separated and specified. The regulatory framework in this area of small business is imperfect. Neither in the country nor in the regions there is a reasonable state approach to the development of this type;

2. to improve access to information about rural tourism in the Belgorod region. If you look at the statistics of visits to the most popular sites, the percentage of mobile visitors has increased significantly compared to the previous period and continues to grow. Using mobile application business audience is important to obtain relevant and meaningful information. A business audience loves and appreciates convenience in the first place, so the main effort in the development of mobile apps will focus on creating solutions that will make the lives of these people better, faster and easier.

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